Three Faraci Lange LLP attorneys have been selected as Best Lawyers’ 2012 Lawyers of the Year.
- Angelo G. Faraci, of Rochester, has been named the Best Lawyers’ 2012 Rochester, N.Y. Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs Lawyer of the Year.
- Brian M. Zorn, of Victor, has been named the Best Lawyers’ 2012 Rochester, N.Y. Product Liability Litigation Lawyer of the Year.
- Stephen G. Schwarz, of Fairport, has been selected as the Best Lawyers’ 2012 Rochester, N.Y. Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs Lawyer of the Year.
Best Lawyers is designating Lawyers of the Year in certain legal specialties in large legal communities. The Faraci Lange LLP attorneys being honored received high ratings in Best Lawyers’ surveys by earning a high level of respect among their peers for their abilities, professionalism and integrity. Only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is selected as the Lawyer of the Year.
Best Lawyers compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The current, 18th edition of The Best Lawyers in America (2012) is based on more than 3.9 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.
September 29th, 2011
Posted by Joseph A. Regan, Senior Counsel, Faraci Lange
Within the past 15 years or so, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued several opinions setting out restrictions on punitive damages. Because punitive damages can be viewed as a taking of property, they implicate the Due Process Clause of the U. S. Constitution. The first of these cases, and perhaps the most interesting, was BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore, 517 U.S. 559 (1996). Dr. Ira Gore purchased what he thought was a brand new BMW, only to find out months later that the vehicle had been damaged slightly when being transported, and had been repaired and repainted prior to its delivery to him. He was not told about the repairs, and only learned the vehicle had been repainted months after the transaction. BMW had an internal policy of selling those vehicles as new without informing the dealer or purchaser, when the cost to repair was less than 3% of the value of the vehicle. The paint job on the Gore vehicle cost less than $1,000. Nonetheless, an Alabama jury found that BMW had engaged in fraud and awarded Dr. Gore $4,000 in compensatory damages, and $4,000,000 in punitive damages. Though the Alabama Supreme Court later reduced the amount to $2,000,000, even that number was a bit too breathtaking for the U. S. Supreme Court. In sending the case back to the Alabama courts, the Supreme Court issued several guidelines for all states to follow on the issue of punitive damages. The court held that such an award must bear a relationship to the nature of the conduct, must bear some reasonable ratio to the amount of compensatory damages (here the ratio was 1,000:1!), and take into account existing state civil and criminal penalties for similar conduct. In subsequent cases, the Supreme Court has held that only in extraordinary cases will punitive damages exceeding double digit ratios to compensatory damages be considered appropriate. More…
September 21st, 2011
Posted by Faraci Lange
Two Faraci Lange LLP attorneys are listed among the Top 50 Upstate New York attorneys in the 2011 edition of New York Super Lawyers.
Angelo G. Faraci and Stephen G. Schwarz are among the 50 attorneys who received the highest point totals during the New York Super Lawyers-Upstate nomination, research and review process.
Faraci, of Rochester, is listed in the New York Super Lawyers in personal injury plaintiff: medical malpractice. He has been listed in New York Super Lawyers since 2007. Schwarz, of Fairport, is listed in personal injury plaintiff: medical malpractice. He has been named to New York Super Lawyers since 2007.
