Late yesterday, COBA was made aware that United States District Court Judge Leonard Wexler, who is presiding over our NIFA Lawsuit passed away at the age of 93.

COBA and Nassau's other Unions had recently been notified that Judge Wexler ordered a trial for the NIFA case to be conducted in June, only to rescind that order and direct that he would rule on Summary Judgement. Which meant he had all the information he needed and intended to rule on the legal briefs submitted to him.

Now everything is on hold once again due to Judge Wexler's passing.

I have been asked by several members what this means regarding our case and are we back at square one? Another question was if we have to go through the State Courts once again? The simple answer is no we're not back at square one. We are done with the State Courts and are firmly under the purview of the Federal Court.    

After conferencing with our attorney's today, what does happen next is that a new Federal Judge will be assigned to the NIFA case. Who that Judge is, we don't know at this point. What that Judge then directs with regard to the NIFA case will be up to him/her once appointed. He/She may order a trial, direct conference dates or once again decide to rule on Summary Judgement. We wont know any of that until the Judge is appointed. Also, at this point we don't have a timeframe for said appointment of the judge.

I will keep you notified of all new information as it develops. First and foremost is to see who the Court appoints as our new Judge and we go from there.

Brian Sullivan, COBA President