AFFIRMATIVE LITIGATION
Gail Rubin, Chief
Eric Proshansky, Deputy
The Af?rmative Litigation Division represents the City as plaintiff on a wide range of issues, including civil
racketeering, fraud, nuisance, restitution, antitrust, products liability, breach of contract, insurance, and state and
federal funding for government bene?ts and other programs. Its goal is to protect the City’s treasury, the City’s
interests in public health and safety, and to advance the City’s agenda by instituting claims and recovering monies
owed to the City.
Battle Against Illegal Guns
Attorneys continued to monitor settlement agreements
with out-of-state gun dealers that have resulted in a
signi?cant decrease in the number of guns recovered
in the City that are traceable to those dealers. Mayor
Bloomberg’s comments on the dealers’ sales practices
were the subject of two suits by gun dealers in their
home states, which the Division continued to defend in
collaboration with pro bono counsel and local counsel.
One suit was dismissed and the other is still pending.
Division attorneys and pro bono counsel continue to
litigate with two defendant dealers who defaulted
before trial, and have appealed to the Second Circuit.
Curbing the Bootleg Cigarette Trade
In an effort to end the bootlegging of untaxed cigarettes
into the City, recoup millions of dollars in lost tax revenue,
and limit the adverse impacts of smoking, Division
attorneys ?led lawsuits against Native American retailers,
New York cigarette wholesalers and Internet cigarette
sellers. The court issued a preliminary injunction barring
reservation retailers from selling tax-free cigarettes
to anyone other than tribe members for personal
use. Division attorneys continue to pursue contempt
proceedings against reservation retailers who are in
violation of that order, pending the appeal before the
Second Circuit. The City’s summary judgment motion
against cigarette wholesalers remains pending.
Obtaining Unpaid Property Taxes from UN Missions
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2007 ruling that federal
courts have jurisdiction to hear the City’s property tax lien
cases against foreign governments under an exception
in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, the City was
awarded summary judgment validating the tax liens
and assessing taxes against India and Mongolia for those
portions of the property used as residences for mission
and consular staff below the level of Head of Mission. That
judgment is now on appeal to the Second Circuit. The
case against the Philippines, for taxes on those portions
of a Philippines-owned building that housed commercial
enterprises including a bank and airline office, was
settled for $9 million. The City also commenced suit
against the Republic of Nigeria on a similar claim.
recovery from Celotex to $60 million. Division attorneys
researched the massive records of the Manville Trust
and the Justice Department, among other repositories,
unearthing material never previously used in the nearly
forty-year history of asbestos litigation. To date, the
Division has recovere