Spanierman Gallery Profit Sharing Plan v. Merritt

On January 20, 2003, in Spanierman Gallery Profit Sharing Plan v. Merritt, 2003 U.S. Dist. Lexis 1444 (S.D.N.Y.), a critical ruling on the issues of jurisdiction, comity and issue preclusion was made. Based on Kucker Marino Winiarsky & Bittens, LLP’s petition, the federal district court refused to bar a plaintiff art gallery from continuing to prosecute its legal claims despite a judgment in favor of the federal defendant against another party which was rendered in a state court action in which the plaintiff art gallery was not a participant. Kucker Marino Winiarsky & Bittens defeated the defendant’s attempts to impose issue preclusion on the plaintiff.