JUNE 12, 2024 – In an extremely hard fought and fully litigatedĀ malicious prosecution Federal action brought on behalf of a successful criminal defense attorney by a Biglaw firm, MSSSV won a complete dismissal of all claims on summary judgment(the Courtās 201 page decision is attached hereto)
Partner Maurizio Savoiardo and Sr. associate Richard Epstein successfully obtained summary judgment in a complex Federal Ā§1983 case, asserting claims for malicious prosecution, and a host of 4th amendment search & seizure violations against the former District Attorney of Putnam County, his Assistant District Attorneys and investigators. The case involved extensive electronic discovery involving over a million data points, including 484,000 text messages, wiretaps, and voluminous computer data.
The Plaintiff-criminal defense attorney was accused of tampering with a complaining witness in a sexual assault prosecution and was indicted by two Grand Juries. Despite both indictments ultimately being dismissed in a blistering tone by a state court judge, MSSSV obtained summary judgment vindicating their clients by establishing the existence of probable cause, and convincing the Federal Court that the alleged misrepresentations in the warrant and wiretap applications were not material.The Court applied the corrected affidavit and good faith doctrines and concluded that based on the reasonable inferences to be drawn from the evidence, probable cause existed for the warrants and the underlying prosecution. No appeal was taken.