Court gives Grasso partial win over NYSE

NEW YORK — Former New York Stock Exchange chairman Richard Grasso has won a partial victory in his legal fight to hold on to his $100 million compensation package.

The New York Appellate Division in Manhattan threw out four rulings against Grasso on Tuesday that had been made by a lower court last year.

The high court has not yet addressed other issues at the heart of the dispute. They include whether Grasso is entitled to a jury trial, and whether he can be ordered to pay back the disputed money without any trial, as the lower court judge ordered. Another issue is whether the lower court judge should recuse himself; Grasso contends, among other things, that the judge, Charles Ramos, had tried years ago to become an NYSE board member.

The four rulings Grasso won, dealing with technical issues, were reversed on the grounds that the state attorney general did not have the authority to bring them in the first place.

Grasso’s attorney, Gerson Zweifach, declined to comment.

The state is expected to appeal, said Darren Dopp, a spokesman for Gov. Eliot Spitzer. The decision will be up to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

In January, an attorney fighting to retain Grasso’s compensation package told the higher court that a fully informed “blue chip” board of directors had approved the compensation and he should not be forced to give it back.

The state attorney general’s office has been trying to recover some of the $187.5 million pay package Grasso received in 2003. It contends that the compensation was unreasonable under state laws governing not-for-profit organizations.