Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, Mets owners will face a jury against their wishes, if and when the lawsuit filed by Madoff trustee Irving Picard goes to trial.  Picard accuses the Mets owners of fraudulently taking money out of Bernie Madoff & Co. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan rejected the owners' argument that the Seventh Amendment doesn't give the plaintiff a right to have a jury trial because he, like Madoff's firm itself, could not bring fraudulent transfer claims..  The judge added that the courts must "jealously guard" litigants' Seventh Amendment rights.

"This confuses the right to a jury trial with a right to bring a claim.  [Madoff's firm] might well be barred from bringing fraudulent conveyance claims on the facts of this case;  but if it could bring such claims, it would have a right to a jury trial on those claims." --  Judge Jed Rakoff, in his written ruling.

It's always possible that the case could be settled before going to trial, since both sides have been in mediation with Mario Cuomo, former New York governor. Picard had sought $1 billion from the defendants, but the amount was reduced in September when Judge Rakoff threw out 9 of Picard's 11 claims, and said he could try to recover "fictitious" profits and principal only in the last 2 years of the Ponzi scheme - not the last 6 years as the trustee sought. The case is:   Picard v. Katz, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-03605. For further details, go to:   [Reuters, 11/23/11]