Won a 4-way race for the open seat.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: History-making Judge Anil C. Singh has set another benchmark for the Indian American community, becoming the first desi ever elected to the New York State Supreme Court.
Singh won election on November 5 of last year, and was confirmed as 2014 began. He won a four-way race for the open seat on the New York Supreme Court, winning 28.1% of the votes for the victory.
Several of Singh’s verdicts in New York have received a high level of interest, with many cases being published in law journals that are read across the nation.
Most recently, Singh was in the news last year for tossing out a lawsuit filed by a nightclub against hip-hop stars Drake and Chris Brown. The two got into a violent altercation that left part of the nightclub almost completely ruined. The club sued both the stars for $16 million worth of damages, but Singh threw the case out, saying that brawls are part of the risk of owning and operating such a venue.
Singh is also well-known for his verdict in a class-action lawsuit last October, brought against weight loss company Jenny Craig, in which 751 employees of the company sued because the company said they took 30-minute lunches and refused to reimburse them when, in fact, they had been working and deserved payment. Singh ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.
A native of Gaziapur, Singh immigrated to the US in 1976, earning his B.A. from Lawrence University in Wisconsin in 1980. He then earned his law degree from the Antioch School of Law in Washington, DC, six years later. He was a legal clerk in New York Civil and Supreme Courts for fifteen years, between 1987 and 2002, when he became a judge.
His 2002 ascension to judgeship is a milestone for the Indian American community, as he was the first to ever become one in the state of New York. He served as a New York City Civil Court Judge from 2003 to 2012.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com