Office of Leon R. Koziol
1518 Genesee Street
Utica, NY 13502
Phone: (315) 796-4000
leonkozioljd@gmail.com

TO:  ASSOCIATED  PRESS,  MEDIA  AND  INTERESTED  PARTIES

FROM:  LEON  R. KOZIOL,  J.D.

DATE:  December 2, 2010

RE:  Federal Court Decision

A decision was received this past week in connection with a parenting rights test case filed against the New York Chief Justice, Unified Court System and others on November 10, 2010. A federal court judge reviewed the background together with an earlier case filed in February, 2009 and argued in September, 2010. An order was then entered which consolidated both actions with the earlier one designated as the “Lead Case” and the latter one as the “Member Case”. All motions for dismissal filed by the New York court defendants were denied along with the plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction. Both actions were then allowed to proceed without prejudice to renew those motions in the consolidated action.

This procedure is not unlike one employed in the Oneida land claim litigation of which I was a part during the nineties, see i.e. Oneida Nation v County of Oneida, 132 F. Supp. 2d 71 (NDNY 2000)(involving successful maintenance of gaming compact challenge against tribal motion for injunction). The current“Lead Case”, brought on behalf of “parents similarly situated”  will soon enter its third year with opportunity for class action status in the event other victims of custody, support and alienation practices seek to join or intervene. This is a comprehensive challenge based upon rights protected under our Constitution and can be viewed in its entirety (the “Member Case”) on federal pacer docket and elsewhere on this site. A planning session surrounding this case and a national Parenting Rights Convention is scheduled for December 26-27, 2010 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, see details on this site.

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View Lawsuit Here

http://www.uticaod.com/news/x1497406581/Judge-consolidates-Leon-Koziols-lawsuits