Russia Court Rejects BoNY Motion to Dismiss Judge

By Simon Shuster

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court on Friday rejected a motion by lawyers for the Bank of New York (BK.N) to dismiss the judge in the Russian government's $22.5 billion lawsuit against the bank, lawyers for both sides said.

Russia's Federal Customs Service is seeking compensation after a rogue employee at the bank was convicted in the United States for helping launder $7 billion from Russia.

Ivan Marisin, lead attorney for the bank, said he had put forward a motion to have chief judge Lyudmila Pulova dismissed from the case.

He said he had asked for her removal on the grounds she was receiving documents and communiques from lawyers for the Federal Customs Service. Judges are not supposed to have contact with any of the parties to a case outside the courtroom.

The customs service "is unofficially communicating with the judge, which is against all norms and principles," Marisin told Reuters.

He cited a customs service document presented to the court with the judge's pencil markings already on it.

Marisin and Steven Marks, a lawyer representing the customs service, said the other two judges sitting alongside Pulova had rejected the motion.

"The procedural motions have been denied, and the next hearing is going to proceed with the merits of the case... That is where our attention is directed," said Marks, who is from the Florida-based firm Podhurst Orseck.

Marisin, however, said he would continue to seek a dismissal of the case on procedural grounds.

"We have many more procedural issues to raise. These issues deserve careful and thorough review," he said.

ANTAGONISTIC

Along with the motion to dismiss Pulova, the court on Friday also rejected two other procedural motions from the bank, including one that accused Marks of falsifying his power of attorney document.

Asked whether he feared having agitated the judge with Friday's motion, Marisin said: "She cannot possibly be any more antagonistic to us than she already is, so I'm glad that we at least voiced our concerns."

Marks said it would be more difficult to reach a settlement in the case after the accusations.

"What the bank has done is making it more difficult and far more expensive for the bank if it ever chooses to go that route, but our focus now is on obtaining the judgment," Marks said.