115 results for 'court:"New York Court Of Appeals"'.
Per curiam, the court of appeals finds that the appellate division improperly dismissed counterclaims in which plaintiff, a New York City "hop-on, hop-off" bus tour, alleged tortious interference and anticompetitive behavior against other such services because the counterclaims adequately alleged other services conspired to impugn plaintiff's reputation to operators of common city attractions and by alleging exclusive relationships constituting nothing more than pretexts for exclusion. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: March 14, 2024, Case #: 27, Categories: Transportation, Unfair Competition
J. Singas answers a certified question by finding that human rights laws of New York state and city provide protections from employment discrimination to nonresidents who are not yet employed in city- or state-based jobs, but who proactively sought such employment. A South Asian-American journalist working outside New York claimed her race and sex kept her from a job in New York City because the occupation was not labeled a "diversity slot" by her employer. Thus, the alleged discrimination met the precedential test of having an impact within city-state boundaries.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Singas, Filed On: March 14, 2024, Case #: 20, Categories: Employment Discrimination
Per curiam, the court of appeals finds that the appellate division properly held that accidental death benefits should be paid to the daughter of a state worker who contracted Covid-19 and died of related causes. The decedent's domestic partner, his designated beneficiary for ordinary death benefits, objected, but amendments to retirement law clearly state that work-related deaths from Covid-19 are accidents and that benefits should go to beneficiaries statutorily designated as spouses or dependent blood relatives. Affirmed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: March 14, 2024, Case #: 25, Categories: Social Security, Covid-19
J. Cannataro finds that the appellate division properly held that defendant could be assigned a sex offender classification level before prison release even though he was confined elsewhere at the time due to his deteriorating mental state. A competency hearing was not needed first because the process for classifying defendants offers sufficient due process safeguards. Affirmed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Cannataro, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 10, Categories: Competence, Sex Offender, Due Process
J. Garcia finds that the appellate division improperly overturned defendant's burglary conviction on grounds that notice was not provided when ordinary burglary was added as a lesser included offense to the more serious count of burglary as a sexually motivated felony because the indictment specifically identified the lesser included crime as the qualifying offense for the sexually motivated count, and at no time did the prosecution suggest abandoning the lesser charge. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Garcia, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 14, Categories: Burglary, Criminal Procedure
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J. Curran finds that the appellate division properly held that assigning sex offender risk classification to two defendants was not premature since each likely faced civil confinement rather than community release upon completing their prison terms. Classification is required by law 30 days before release, which occurs when a sex offender no longer remains confined to state prison, regardless of the possibility of future confinement under mental hygiene rules for sex offender management. Affirmed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Curran, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 09, Categories: Sentencing, Sex Offender, Commitment
J. Rivera finds that the appellate division improperly found for building owners in workplace injury claims contending the subcontractor's employee slipped on plastic sheeting that had been put down while he painted an escalator because the plastic constituted a "foreign substance" not part of the escalator, and the sheet was not integral to the painter's work since drop cloths could have been used. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Rivera, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 11, Categories: Tort, Labor
J. Cannataro finds that defendant was properly convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide and manslaughter for causing a three-car accident that killed one person and seriously injured four others. Defendant contends his trial rights were violated since he could not gauge prospective jurors due to Covid-19 protocols requiring that they wear face masks unless being questioned individually, but defendant did not have a specific right to an unobstructed view of every potential juror's face during the selection process. Affirm.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Cannataro, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 13, Categories: Constitution, Jury, Vehicular Homicide
J. Singas finds that defendant was properly convicted of murder, attempted murder, and assault stemming from an altercation outside a bar that resulted in a stabbing death and serious injury from a neck slashing. The jury was instructed on justification in light of the self-defense claims, but the court did not abuse its discretion by failing to revisit that information when deliberating jurors asked to be recharged on the elements of the alleged crimes. Affirmed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Singas, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 03, Categories: Self Defense, Jury Instructions
J. Troutman answers a reformulated certified question by finding that Venezuelan law governs the validity of notes offered for swap by a state-owned oil company to avoid default. While documents outlining the exchange of older, unsecured notes for newer, secured ones contained a choice-of-law provision, New York's uniform commercial code specifies that the laws of the issuer's jurisdiction apply, and the swap was not authorized as required by the Venezuelan National Assembly. New York law, however, will determine all other aspects of the transaction under the uniform commercial code, including any consequences of a defect in a security's validity.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Troutman, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 06, Categories: Securities, Choice Of Law, Contract
J. Garcia finds that the appellate division improperly denied defendant habeas relief after he committed additional violent felonies while out on bail awaiting trial. Such defendants can be remanded if considered a flight risk or if viewed as a danger to the community at large, but since defendant fell into the latter category, a hearing should have been held to submit witness testimony, evidence, or grand jury transcripts. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Garcia, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 04, Categories: Habeas, Bail, Due Process
J. Halligan finds that the appellate division properly held that the operator of multiple restaurants was properly denied insurance coverage after being forced to suspend in-person dining early in the Covid-19 pandemic. The operator failed to demonstrate the insurer breached the contract on business-interruption losses because the policy covered direct physical loss or damage, which required a material change or "complete and persistent dispossession" of the insured property. Affirmed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Halligan, Filed On: February 15, 2024, Case #: 07, Categories: Insurance, Covid-19
Per curiam, the court of appeals finds that the appellate division properly declined to set aside defendant's conviction for leaving the scene of an accident causing injury because evidence indicated that defendant knew at a minimum that a pedestrian had run into the street and come into contact with his car, and that defendant drove off without stopping. Affirmed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: February 15, 2024, Case #: 12, Categories: Vehicle, Tort
Per curiam, the court of appeals finds that plaintiff's appeal should be dismissed as brought from the denial of her request to amend the bill of particulars in personal injury claims brought against her landlord because the denial did not finally determine the action, and plaintiff's own recklessness in climbing to the building's rooftop was found to be the sole cause of the accident.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: February 15, 2024, Case #: 59 SSM 12, Categories: Civil Procedure, Tort
J. Singas finds that the appellate division improperly annulled a finding that a letter threatening legal action against a nonprofit constituted retaliation. An apartment complex owner sent the letter after the nonprofit sent an agent to pose as a prospective tenant, which led to the claim that the apartment complex attempted to steer her to a different building upon discovering she intended to bring her children to live with her. The matter should be remanded since the state division of human rights shifted the burden to the owner to prove the nonprofit acted in bad faith in alleging familial discrimination. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Singas, Filed On: February 15, 2024, Case #: 02, Categories: Anti-slapp, Housing
J. Cannataro finds that the appellate division should have upheld a directed verdict entered for a mother who sought to affix liability for her son's death by drowning while swimming in a creek near low-head dams. Neither the mother nor the joint-counties oversight board was due a directed verdict on evidence that was insufficient to eliminate questions as to whether ownership of the dams ran with the land under them or had been transferred to the board by the federal agency that built them. Because the jury followed a rational process at trial and found the board not liable, remittal is necessary to reinstate that verdict.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Cannataro, Filed On: January 16, 2024, Case #: 08, Categories: Civil Procedure, Property, Wrongful Death
Per curiam, the court of appeals finds that defendant was improperly convicted based on his guilty plea to assault stemming from a head-on car collision that caused serious injury. One appellate justice failed to address the merits of the interest-of-justice challenge to the sentence as excessive based on the mistaken belief that defendant's appeal waiver was valid. As a result, that challenge should be considered on remittal. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: January 16, 2024, Case #: 44 SSM 11, Categories: Sentencing, Plea
Per curiam, the court of appeals finds that one of two perjury convictions should be vacated as multiplicitous because the counts arose from grand jury testimony in which defendant explained how he came to possess a cellphone that led to his arrest for grand larceny.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 43 SSM 10, Categories: Perjury
J. Rivera finds that the appellate division should have suppressed evidence of a loaded handgun recovered from defendant's vehicle in his trial for possessing a weapon because officers who observed defendant and another driver pull into a parking lot to continue a loud exchange they had in stopped traffic lacked reasonable suspicion of illegal drug activity to discover the gun in defendant's vehicle in plain view. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Rivera, Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 96, Categories: Search, Weapons
Per curiam, the appellate division finds that the trial court improperly upheld the town board's decision that the addition of a second-story deck to a property did not violate setback requirements because the interpretation that setbacks are measured by a building's footprint did not account for the covered porch extending into the setback area. However, the board properly held that the bunkhouse was used a sleeping quarters and not a permanent residence.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: December 22, 2023, Case #: CA 20-01094, Categories: Property, Zoning
J. Rivera finds that the appellate division properly held that training materials prepared by counsel for state parole board commissioners were exempt from disclosure under New York's Freedom of Information Law because the documents requested by a nonprofit public defender group constituted attorney-client legal analysis. Affirmed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Rivera, Filed On: December 19, 2023, Case #: 91, Categories: Public Record, Privilege
J. Cannataro finds that the appellate division should have suppressed evidence uncovered during a traffic stop when a drug-sniffing dog alerted that defendant likely had narcotics in his pants because whether the dog made actual contact with defendant was immaterial since his "personal dignity" and privacy were violated by the police-directed sniffing. Meanwhile, the appellate division lacked jurisdiction to resolve whether reasonable suspicion existed to justify the sniff-search since the lower court had not entered an adverse decision on that issue. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Cannataro, Filed On: December 19, 2023, Case #: 95, Categories: Drug Offender, Search
J. Singas finds that the appellate division properly dismissed workplace injury claims brought after a commercial trailer fell on a heavy-equipment mechanic when he was lifted by a front loader bucket so he could work underneath. Because the mechanic was involved in ordinary vehicle repair, he was not engaged in the kind of protected "elevation-related hazard" of erecting, demolishing, or altering a structure. Affirmed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Singas, Filed On: December 19, 2023, Case #: 94, Categories: Tort, Labor
Per curiam, the court of appeals finds that the appellate division improperly held that a property under contract should not have been taken by eminent domain by an industrial development agency at the request of another developer. The land was to be used for surface parking for tenants of a planned medical office building, which constitutes a commercial use within the industrial development agency's eminent domain authority, even if some paying tenants may qualify as "health-related facilities." However, remittal is necessary to consider unaddressed arguments. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: December 14, 2023, Case #: 89, Categories: Property
J. Singas finds that defendant was properly convicted of committing a shooting at a house party based on a first-time in-court identification by a neighbor, who had not made a pre-trial identification even though she reported the shooting, because she established her reliability as an eyewitness before taking the stand. Defendant had not received formal notice but was made aware his neighbor would ID him at trial. Affirmed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Singas, Filed On: December 14, 2023, Case #: 28, Categories: Witnesses, Identification
J. Cannataro finds that the appellate division properly upheld the attorney general's finding that a physician was not owed a defense in a third-party action stemming from a state prison inmate's claims of injury by malpractice. While professional service providers "acting at the request" of a state agency may be indemnified, the physician had no agreement with the prison system to treat the inmate. Rather, he provided pathology services under contract to a regional medical center where the inmate's biopsy had been sent by a doctor who saw inmates at the prison and had privileges at the center. Affirmed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Cannataro, Filed On: December 14, 2023, Case #: 88, Categories: Indemnification, Medical Malpractice
J. Halligan finds that the lower court improperly upheld defendant's conviction for harassing his mother even though not all pertinent evidence had been turned over when the prosecution filed a certificate of compliance in discovery. State-enacted reforms more closely link discovery and trial-readiness, while belated disclosure requires dismissal on speedy-trial grounds, especially that caused by the lack of due diligence. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Halligan, Filed On: December 14, 2023, Case #: 92, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Speedy Trial, Discovery
J. Wilson finds that the appellate division properly held that an independent commission could be compelled to reconvene to fulfill its duties to redraw legislative district boundaries following a decennial census. While the group's stalemate along party lines led to the judicial appointment of a special master to accomplish redistricting for elections in 2022, amendments to the state constitution mandated that the commission do the job. Affirmed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wilson, Filed On: December 12, 2023, Case #: 90, Categories: Administrative Law, Elections
J. Troutman finds that the appellate division improperly held that the workers' compensation law judge lacked discretion to deny the request to cross-examine a physician concerning claims stemming from carpal tunnel syndrome because the plain language of the law permits employers to seek adjournments in order to call attending physicians whose reports are on file. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Troutman, Filed On: December 12, 2023, Case #: 87, Categories: Civil Procedure, Experts, Workers' Compensation
J. Rivera finds that the appellate division should have suppressed defendant's admission that he possessed a loaded handgun in his waistband because police lacked probable cause to stop defendant as he rode his bike down the street in light of the absence of criminal activity or traffic violations. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Rivera, Filed On: November 21, 2023, Case #: 78, Categories: Search