Attempted Deceit -- Certified Questions. The Second Circuit, in Amalfitano v. Rosenberg has certified the following questions to the New York State Court of Appeals:

Can a successful lawsuit for treble damages brought under N.Y. Judiciary Law 487 be based on an attempted but unsuccessful deceit upon a court by the defendant?

In the course of such a lawsuit, may the costs of defending litigation instituted by a complaint containing a material misrepresentation of fact be treated as the proximate result of the misrepresentation if the court upon which the deceit was attempted at no time acted on the belief that the misrepresentation was true?

The decision can be found here.