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Enforcement of Obligations Imposed In SEQRA Findings Statements
When, at the culmination of environmental review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), a municipality resolves to require a developer to ameliorate environmental impacts, can anyone other than the municipality itself enforce the requirement? Most SEQRA cases involve attacks on an agency's compliance with SEQRA procedures, but in Mutual Aid Association v. City of Yonkers, NYLJ 11/15/21, p. 21, the Second Department faced a challenge to the municipality's follow through long after the SEQRA review was completed. Because the court resolved the case by concluding that the municipality had not, in fact, imposed a requirement on the developer, the court avoided the more basic question: can a municipality or other lead agency impose a requirement and then decide not to enforce it.
The Mutual Aid Association Case
The case involves obligations supposedly imposed on the developer of Ridge Hill, an 81-acre mixed use residential and commercial development in the City of Yonkers. In 2003, the developer sought zoning amendments and site plan approval to allow the project to go forward. The developer's Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) concluded that to mitigate the project's impact on fire protection, "the Yonkers Fire Department may need to increase its current staffing and equipment as well as consider the construction of a new fire station." The Yonkers City Council accepted a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) in May, 2005. After public hearings and public comments, the Council, in December 2005, adopted a Statement of Findings indicating that the impact on fire protection "will be accomplished by improvements to the infrastructure and the addition of new firefighting and supervisory personnel." Seven months later, the council adopted another resolution with a supplemental findings statement, which included the following language:
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.