January 2015

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In Coley v. NYC Housing Authority (decided January 20, 2015) – an ice slip-and-fall case – the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed the denial of defendant’s motion for summary judgment. It reasoned: Defendant failed to establish its entitlement to judgment as a matter of law in this action where plaintiff was injured when she slipped…

Read More Issues of Fact in Ice Slip/Fall Case Result in Proper Denial of Summary Judgment to Defendant
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In Horn v. 197 5th Ave. Corp., the Appellate Division, Second Department held that plaintiff’s trip-and-fall case should have been dismissed. Plaintiff sued “to recover damages for injuries she sustained when she allegedly tripped and fell over a sidewalk cellar door adjacent to the defendants’ property at 197 Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn.” There was, however, a…

Read More Cellar Door Trip/Fall Case Should Have Been Dismissed; Errata Sheet Could Not Be Used to Correct Location of Accident
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In Burhans and Rivera v. The State of New York (Sup. NY Index 152906/14), New York Supreme Court Judge Wooten held that plaintiff sufficiently alleged sexual harassment/hostile work environment (but not sex discrimination) claims against the defendant State. Plaintiffs allege in their complaint that, under the New York State Human Rights Law, the State of New…

Read More Burhans/Rivera Sexual Harassment/Hostile Work Environment Claims Continue Against New York State
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In Smith v. New York City Housing Authority, a slip-and-fall case decided January 14, 2015, the Appellate Division, Second Department held that the Supreme Court should have denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment. “A real property owner or a party in possession or control of real property will be held liable for injuries sustained in…

Read More Black Ice Slip/Fall Case Continues
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In Beceren v. Joan Realty LLC, decided January 14, 2015, the Appellate Division, Second Department held that a defendant property owner was entitled to dismissal of plaintiff’s slip-and-fall case. In this case, plaintiff alleged that she was injured when she slipped and fell on water in a vestibule area in Brooklyn apartment building owned or maintained…

Read More Slip/Fall Case Dismissed; “Inherently Slippery” Smooth Floor Was Not An Actionable Defect
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In Atkins v. Pitney Bowes Management Services et al., decided Jan. 12, 2015, Southern District of New York Judge Koeltl granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment on pro se plaintiff’s Title VII race and religious discrimination and retaliation claims. The court held that defendants proffered a non-discriminatory reason for plaintiff’s termination – namely, plaintiff’s failure…

Read More “You People” Remark Insufficient to Support Race Discrimination Claim
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Here is the complaint recently filed by a student, identified only as “V.V.”, against the New York City Department of Education. Plaintiff asserts, in sum, that she and other students were sexually harassed by cross-dressing teacher Sean Shaynak and that the DOE failed to institute corrective measures to stop it. Plaintiff seeks to recover under Title…

Read More Lawsuit Against NYC Department of Education re Sexual Harassment by Brooklyn Tech Teacher Sean Shaynak
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In Rodriguez v. County of Westchester, a snow/ice slip-and-fall case, the Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed the denial of the motion for summary judgment filed by the listing broker for the property on which plaintiff fell. Here are the facts, as summarized by the court: The plaintiff allegedly was injured when she fell while walking…

Read More Snow/Ice Slip-and-Fall Case Continues Against Property’s Listing Broker
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In Dziedzic v. State University of New York at Oswego (decided Dec. 19, 2014), the Northern District of New York reiterated that, in order to establish a hostile work environment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a plaintiff must establish two elements: [1] the workplace is permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule,…

Read More Court Reiterates That Actionable Hostile Work Environment Must Be Related to Protected Class/Status
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In Turley v. ISG Lackawanna, the Second Circuit clarified the standards for awarding punitive damages in employment discrimination cases. It provides a good review of the law, as well as how it applies in specific cases. In this race discrimination case, the plaintiff “endured an extraordinary and steadily intensifying drumbeat of racial insults, intimidation, and…

Read More Second Circuit Weighs in on Punitive Damages in Employment Discrimination Cases
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