October 2012 - Pospis Law, PLLC

October 27, 2012 by mjpospis

Court: Ghosts Are Real! (Sort Of)

In honor of Halloween, I present to you Stambovsky v. Ackley, 169 A.D.2d 254 (App. Div. 1st Dept. 1991), the so-called “haunted house case”. There, the court – “moved by the spirit of equity” (that’s a quote) – allowed the buyer of an allegedly haunted house to seek rescission of the contract and recover his down payment.…

A $200,000 Kick To The Groin

Last week the Second Circuit, in Payne v. Jones, held that a jury’s $300,000 punitive damages award to a police beating victim was excessive. It thus remanded for a new trial on punitive damages, unless plaintiff agreed to remit $200,000 and accept a punitive damages award totaling $100,000. After plaintiff was brought to the hospital,…

Court Issues Major Victory to Protesters in RNC Litigation

On September 30, 2012, in Dinler v. City of New York, the Southern District of New York issued an opinion that largely favors the protesters who filed suit for alleged police abuses during the 2004 Republican National Convention. Significantly, the Court rejected the Defendants’ theory of “group probable cause”, and affirmed the requirement of individualized…