Hon. Richard Arcara
1988 – present
Federal Judicial Service:
- Judge, U.S. District Court, Western District of New York
- Nominated by President Ronald Reagan on August 7, 1987, to a seat vacated by Hon. John T. Elfvin. Confirmed by the Senate on February 19, 1988, and received commission on February 22, 1988. Served as Chief Judge, 2003-2010. Assumed senior status on January 3, 2015.
Education:
- Villanova University Law School, J.D., 1965
- St. Bonaventure University, B.A., 1962
Professional Career:
- District Attorney, Erie County, New York, 1982-1988
- United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, 1975-1981
- First Assistant U.S. Attorney, Western District of New York, 1973-1974
- Assistant U.S. Attorney, Western District of New York, 1969-1973
- Private Practice, Buffalo, New York, 1968-1969
- U.S. Army, Captain, Military Police Corps, 1966-1967
Noteworthy Cases:
Seneca Nation of Indians v. State of New York, et al., No. 1:93-CV-00688:
In 1993, the Seneca Nation of Indians, the westernmost tribe of the Six Nations, or Iroquois Confederacy, citing a 200-year-old treaty and a promise from George Washington, filed a lawsuit claiming rightful ownership to the 40-odd islands in the Niagara River between Lake Erie and Niagara Falls. The largest of those islands – Grand Island – was home to more than 18,000 New York State residents. While the proceedings in this case spanned a decade, the claim itself was much older and went back to the 1950s. In a 215-page decision recounting historical research pertaining to four centuries, Judge Arcara granted summary judgment to the state and dismissed the complaint. In so doing, the Court determined that New York State legally owned the islands since any aboriginal title to the islands held by the Senecas had been extinguished either by the 1764 Treaties of Peace between Great Britain and the Senecas, which transferred title from the Senecas to the British Crown; or by the 1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwix, which extinguished the Senecas’ title and passed it to New York. The Court further held that the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua between the United States and the Senecas did not transfer the Islands back to the Senecas and rejected the Senecas’ claim that the state illegally purchased the islands from the tribe in 1815. The Court of Appeals, characterizing Judge Arcara’s opinion as “thoughtful and comprehensive,” affirmed Judge Arcara’s dismissal of the lawsuit and resolution of the longstanding claim that impacted tens of thousands of New York State residents.
Seneca Nation of Indians v. New York, 206 F. Supp. 2d 448 (W.D.N.Y. 2002), aff’d, 382 F.3d 245 (2d Cir. 2004), cert. denied, 547 U.S. 1178 (2006)
https://casetext.com/case/the-seneca-nation-of-indians-v-state-of-new-york
Forest Laboratories, Inc. v. Abbott Laboratories, No. 1:96-CV-00159:
Respiratory Distress Syndrome (“RDS”) is, when untreated, an often-fatal condition that afflicts thousands of premature infants throughout the world each year. Until relatively recently, RDS was the leading cause of mortality in premature infants. The search for a cure for RDS was the subject of research by scientists throughout the world for almost 35 years. In 1959, Dr. Mary Ellen Avery discovered that premature infants suffering from RDS had an insufficient amount of a substance known as “pulmonary surfactant” in their lungs. Dr. Avery correctly theorized that surfactant might be produced by specialized cells in the lung and that the lungs of premature babies might not be developed enough to produce enough surfactant.
In this case, plaintiffs, who were developers of lung surfactant composition for treating RDS in premature babies, brought suit seeking declaratory judgment of non-infringement and patent invalidity against defendant Abbott Laboratories, Inc., which was the assignee and licensee of a patent for a competing surfactant product. Following trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of defendant. Plaintiff thereafter sought a judgment as a matter of law (“JMOL”) of non-infringement. Judge Arcara, surveying and analyzing the scientific and technical evidence presented at trial, determined that the jury’s verdict that plaintiff had violated defendant’s patent was not supported by substantial evidence, and thus, the Court rejected the verdict and granted plaintiff JMOL of non-infringement. Judge Arcara’s decision was affirmed by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Arcara’s decision had the practical effect of increasing the availability of life-saving surfactant to premature babies across the nation.
Forest Lab’ys, Inc. v. Abbott Lab’ys, 1999 WL 33299123 (W.D.N.Y. 1999), aff’d, 239 F.3d 1305 (Fed. Cir. 2001)
United States of America v. Robert Delano, No. 1:91-CR-00047:
In the late-1980s and early 1990s an extensive and highly publicized federal public corruption investigation led to the indictment of Robert Delano, the City of Buffalo Parks Commissioner, on various charges including RICO, RICO conspiracy, Hobbs Act extortion, and theft from a program receiving federal funds. At trial, testimony was adduced which described some widelyreported and notable conduct by defendant, including the following: defendant ordering holes punched in the ice in Delaware Park Lake to foil the City’s first planned Winterfest as well as ongoing skating activities; defendant sabotaging a 1988 motorcycle racing event which was also scheduled as part of Winterfest and which instead had to be held in Auburn, New York; defendant’s theft of 10 tons of chlorine; defendant providing free trash pickups, hydraulic lifts usage, park benches, and tennis nets to a private club; and in short, defendant treating the Parks Department as his own private enterprise, by ensuring that Parks Department employees and supplies were used in accordance with his own personal interests rather than in the public interest. At the conclusion of trial, defendant was convicted of RICO, RICO conspiracy, Hobbs Act extortion, and theft from a program receiving federal funds and sentenced to concurrent terms of imprisonment of 49 months on each count.
On appeal, the Second Circuit affirmed defendant’s convictions both for the Hobbs Act violations and for theft from a program receiving federal funds but reversed the RICO and RICO conspiracy convictions. Following remand, Judge Arcara sentenced Delano to 41 months imprisonment, which was affirmed on appeal.
United States v. Delano, 825 F. Supp. 534 (W.D.N.Y. 1993), aff’d in part, rev’d in part, 55 F.3d 720 (2d Cir. 1995), appeal after remand, 99 F.3d 402 (2d Cir. 1995)
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/825/534/1412620/
