NRA V. GOV. CUOMO
NEWS REPORTS
NRA Files Cert Petition, Saying Former NY Insurance Regulator Violated Free Speech Rights
New York Law Journal
February 8, 2023
The National Rifle Association on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider its suit against former New York Department of Financial Services superintendent Maria Vullo, whom the gun-rights advocacy group accused of threatening insurers because they did business with the NRA.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in Vullo’s favor in September, finding that she “was merely carrying out her regulatory responsibilities” when she investigated insurance companies that had partnered with the NRA. The appellate court denied the NRA’s request for rehearing en banc in November.
The NRA’s counsel William Brewer III of Brewer Attorneys & Counselors signed the petition for a writ of certiorari alongside First Amendment scholar and law professor Eugene Volokh. Together they argued that the Second Circuit effectively “ratifie[d] Superintendent Vullo’s violation of the NRA’s First Amendment rights” in its ruling. READ MORE
NRA Asks Justices To Review NY Regulator's 'Blacklisting'
Law360
February 8, 2023
The National Rifle Association has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to correct a lower court's ruling that statements by a former New York financial regulator warning businesses about "reputational risks" from working with the NRA didn't violate the advocacy group's constitutional rights.
In a petition for writ of certiorari filed Tuesday, the NRA argued the decision gives government officials "free rein to financially blacklist" political opponents and urged the justices to overturn a Second Circuit panel's determination that former New York Financial Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo's warning wasn't a "veiled threat" to state-regulated banks and insurers that led several to cut ties with the gun advocacy group. READ MORE
NRA Seeks 2nd Circ. Rehearing In Free Speech Dispute
Law360
October 11, 2022
The National Rifle Association asked a Second Circuit panel for a rehearing after the court found that an investigation into insurers partnered with the NRA and statements by a former New York official advising NRA-affiliated businesses to assess their reputational risks did not violate the gun advocacy group's constitutional rights.
The NRA filed a petition Thursday for rehearing en banc, asserting that the panel that overturned its free speech win ignored "clearly-established law that selective enforcement regimes violate the First Amendment." READ MORE
Federal Judge Orders NY State Officials to Produce Documents in NRA Lawsuit
The New York Law Journal
April 1, 2020
A federal judge granted an appeal from the National Rifle Association Tuesday, ordering that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York Department of Financial Services must produce documents in a lawsuit by the gun-rights group against state officials.
The documents will be reviewed in camera by U.S. Magistrate Judge Christian Hummel and an appointed special master, Senior District Judge Thomas McAvoy of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York decided.
NRA Seeks to Block New York’s ‘Political’ Enforcement Over Liability Insurance Programs
Insurance Journal
March 2, 2020
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is seeking a preliminary injunction in federal court in an attempt to stop the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) from conducting enforcement proceedings against the association.READ MORE
NRA Secures New Documents in Bid to Revive Selective Enforcement Claims Against NY Officials
New York Law Journal
December 23, 2019
The National Rifle Association says it’s obtained new information that proves state officials in New York acted deliberately, and unlawfully, to strangle the gun lobby group of its financial resources because of its positions on gun control measures.
New documents obtained by the NRA show the state singled out its insurance products for sanctions while ignoring other policies with similar violations, the group’s attorneys said.
Evidence from those documents was included in a new version of the NRA’s lawsuit against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the state Department of Financial Services, and Maria Vullo, the former superintendent of that agency. The lawsuit was initially brought last year. READ MORE
NRA Says New York Probe Goes Beyond So-Called ‘Murder Insurance’
Bloomberg
November 26, 2019
New York’s financial regulator is probing another company that the National Rifle Association says offers insurance products to its members, potentially bolstering a claim by the gun rights group that the state is unfairly going after its corporate affiliates.
AGIA Affinity, a broker and marketer of insurance products for groups with more than 30 million members, is being investigated by New York’s Department of Financial Services, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The probe focuses on AGIA’s health, accident and life insurance products, regardless of the group they’re tied to, the person said. READ MORE