13 results for 'judge:"Rivera"'.
J. Rivera finds that the appellate division improperly convicted Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein of sex crimes based on uncharged prior bad acts not germane to the case because cross-examining Weinstein about those allegations threatened to portray him in a highly prejudicial light, and a new trial should be held since both errors deprived him of a fair trial. Meanwhile, the court properly held that rape charges were not time-barred because the statute of limitations had been tolled for time during which Weinstein was continuously out-of-state. Reversed in part.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Rivera, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 24, Categories: Evidence, Fair Trial, Sex Offender
J. Rivera finds that the appellate division improperly granted defendant a writ of error coram nobis on grounds that appellate counsel failed to seek direct appeal concerning defendant's abrupt removal from the courtroom while the verdict was being announced. No "practical opportunity" arose to provide warnings about removal in light of disruptive behavior exhibited by defendant, a teenager convicted of attempted murder, and a claim alleging rights violation would have lacked merit. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Rivera, Filed On: April 23, 2024, Case #: 42, Categories: Ineffective Assistance
J. Rivera finds that the appellate division improperly held that changes to for-profit nursing homes' Medicaid rates could not be made retroactively because legislation authorizing the changes to help close a state budget gap specified an April 1 effective date, and new rates were not made retroactive when homes were notified months after federal approval. Meanwhile, the usual 60-day advance notice requirement was not applicable due to the urgency of the fiscal crisis. Reversed in part.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Rivera, Filed On: April 23, 2024, Case #: 31, Categories: Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Medicaid
J. Rivera finds that the appellate division improperly agreed that a building owned by a nonprofit and leased to a for-profit entity qualified as exempt from property taxes because the services of the for-profit were "reasonably incidental" to the nonprofit's work. The language of real property tax law is clear that exemptions apply when a nonprofit uses a property or leases it to another nonprofit for charitable purposes, so having an entity in the space that charged for dialysis services defeated exemption. Furthermore, those services were not related to the the purpose of the exempt owner, which was fundraising. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Rivera, Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: 05, Categories: Real Estate, Tax
J. Rivera finds that the appellate division improperly dismissed claims that New York City's system for setting property tax assessments is unfair and inequitable because majority-white sections of town are favored. Dismissal at the pleading stage was unwarranted, as the issue was not whether the claims could eventually be proven but whether they were rooted in viable legal theory. However, dismissing the state as a defendant was proper because those claims failed to support liability in how the city determined assessments. Reversed in part.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Rivera, Filed On: March 19, 2024, Case #: 01, Categories: Property, Tax
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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. 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
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. 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
J. Rivera finds that the appellate division improperly required defendant to register as a sex offender after he was convicted of robbery and unlawfully imprisoning a child for stealing money from his aunt at gunpoint while his 10-year-old cousin was present. Defendant posed no sexual threat, and designating him a sex offender violated due process without furthering the legislative intent of the sex offender law. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Rivera, Filed On: November 21, 2023, Case #: 83, Categories: Robbery, Sex Offender, Due Process
J. Rivera finds that the appellate division improperly dismissed long-running claims property owners brought against a neighboring manufacturer which sought to expand a nonconforming use because the action had not been rendered time-barred by the addition of an inadvertently omitted necessary party, as the addition related to the initial, timely filing and the party was not surprised by the addition. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Rivera, Filed On: October 24, 2023, Case #: 48, Categories: Civil Procedure, Zoning
J. Rivera finds that the appellate division improperly upheld the decision to sentence defendant as a level three risk for recidivism because the level had been increased based on his prison disciplinary history despite counsel's objections and without providing notice or the opportunity to be heard. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Rivera, Filed On: June 15, 2023, Case #: 49, Categories: Sex Offender, Due Process
J. Rivera finds that the appellate division improperly held that defendant's right to a public trial had not been violated when court officers kept spectators waiting outside during defendant's trial on murder charges because staff implementation of a standing policy that barred entry or exit during witness testimony caused the holdup, and even if the judge was not directly involved, he adopted the policy and delegated its implementation, causing unjustified exclusion. Thus, a new trial is necessary. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Rivera, Filed On: May 23, 2023, Case #: 42, Categories: Constitution