Judge Urges A Settlement In Grasso Case
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The judge overseeing New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s excessive-compensation lawsuit against the former New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso refused to change the case’s trial date, rebuffing an attempt made by lawyers for the Big Board.
New York state Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos also urged Mr. Grasso and Mr. Spitzer to settle the case, in which the New York attorney general is alleging that Mr. Grasso’s pay at the NYSE was excessive for the head of a nonprofit corporation. Mr. Grasso has denied wrongdoing.
Lawyers for the exchange had sought to move the highly-publicized case to February 2007 from October 2006, citing a time conflict due to another case in which they are involved.
But at a hearing yesterday in Manhattan, Judge Ramos denied the move, expressing frustration at the pace of a case that was filed back in May 2004. Judge Ramos said he would try to work something out with the court administrators on the other case, but he wasn’t enthusiastic about delaying the case. At one point yesterday, the judge even floated the idea of moving up the case to this summer, to dodge the time conflicts.
