Labor & Employment Law

Court upholds subpoena of attorney records in connection with pension fraud investigation

Court upholds subpoena of attorney records in connection with pension fraud investigation

Source: Adjunct Law Prof Blog; Reproduced with permission. Copyright © 2008, Mitchell H. Rubinstein, Esq., Adjunct Professor of Law, St. Johns Law School and New York Law School, All rights reserved.

As just about everyone who practices Education Law in New York knows, Attorney General Cuomo is investigating hundreds of lawyers who may be collecting public pensions from the Teachers Retirement System even though they were not employed by the school district itself. In Matter of Quashing the Subpoena Duces Tecum Served upon John B. Hogan, ___Misc. 3d___ (Albany Co. Sept. 12, 2008), the court enforced an investigatory subpoena. A September 16, 2008 New York Law Journal story entitled Judge Upholds Subpoena of Attorney Work Records provides additional information. As the article states:

While it would be "burdensome" to comply with the subpoena, Justice Connolly wrote that the information it seeks is germane to Mr. Cuomo's inquiry into whether Mr. Hogan was a bona fide employee of several school districts or a private contractor who was not entitled to public pension benefits.

"The Court cannot deem the documentation required by the subpoena of Applicant, to the extent such exists, not 'reasonably related' to the described investigation," Justice Connolly held. "Further, in these unique circumstances, the Court holds that the subpoena, though extremely broad, does not seek materials that are utterly irrelevant to any proper inquiry."

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

The full text of the decision is posted on the Internet at:

http://www.nylawyer.com/adgifs/decisions/091608connolly.pdf

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on September 18, 2008 (boomark / email).