November 2015

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In Gorman v. Covidien, LLC, No. 13 CIV. 6486 (KPF), 2015 WL 7308659 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 19, 2015), the court dismissed most of plaintiff’s employment discrimination claims, but permitted his disability discrimination claim under the NYC Human Rights Law to continue. This case, like all employment cases, arises from a complex tapestry of facts that, for…

Read More “Soldiers are Babies” Comment Supports PTSD Disability Discrimination Claim Under the NYC Human Rights Law
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A recent case, Jaquez v. Lind-Ric Hous. Co., 48 Misc. 3d 1204(A), 17 N.Y.S.3d 383 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. June 19, 2015), illustrates the difficulties faced by plaintiffs in slip-and-fall cases, particularly those where the alleged defective condition is not a structural defect or a transitory condition (water, debris, etc) but rather the nature of the…

Read More Slip/Fall on “Slippery” Interior Stairs – Case Dismissed
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In Lenzi v. Systemax, Inc., No. 14-CV-7509 SJF, 2015 WL 6507842 (E.D.N.Y. Oct. 26, 2015), the court held that the female plaintiff stated a claim under the federal and New York state Equal Pay Acts. The law, per the court: The federal Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d)(1) prohibits employers from discriminating between employees on…

Read More Female Plaintiff Plausibly Alleges Equal Pay Act Violations
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In litigation, the question of “personal jurisdiction” – i.e., whether the court has jurisdiction (power) over the person of the defendant – is arguably the most critical/important: If the court does not have jurisdiction, plaintiff loses without regard to the merits of the case. Stern v. Four Points by Sheraton Ann Arbor Hotel, 2015 NY Slip…

Read More Online Hotel Reservation Insufficient to Establish Personal Jurisdiction in New York
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If you’re thinking about celebrating this Thanksgiving by dressing up as a turkey and protesting the commercialism of holidays, you should first read People v. Pettigrew, 69 Misc. 2d 985, 332 N.Y.S.2d 33 (Dist. Ct. Suffolk Cty. 1972). In that case, defendant was arrested and charged with committing the offense of disorderly conduct in violation…

Read More Happy Thanksgiving!
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In Lent v. CCNH d/b/a Cortland Care Center, decided November 16, 2015, the Northern District of New York awarded plaintiff damages following defendant’s default. As set forth in the court’s June 1, 2015 decision granting plaintiff’s motion for a default judgment (which I wrote about here), In this sexual harassment case, plaintiff alleged (among other…

Read More Court Explains $1.25M Emotional Distress Damage Award in Sexual Harassment/Hostile Work Environment Case
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It has been reported that the former personal secretary to Glenn Jorgensen, the Town of Smithtown Superintendent of Highways, has settled her claims of sexual harassment, hostile work environment, and wrongful termination against the Town and Jorgensen for $75,000. In her Dec. 9, 2014 Notice of Claim (below), Ms. Smith alleged, among other things, that Jorgensen…

Read More $75,000 Sexual Harassment/Hostile Work Environment Settlement Against Town of Smithtown and Highway Superintendent Glenn Jorgensen
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In Lolonga-Gedeon v. Child & Family Servs., No. 1:08-CV-00300 EAW, 2015 WL 7280559 (W.D.N.Y. Nov. 18, 2015), the court rejected defendant’s challenge to an earlier decision denying its motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s hostile work environment claim. Defendant argued that the Supreme Court’s decision in Vance v. Ball State University, 133 S.Ct. 2434 (2013)…

Read More Fact Issues as to “Supervisor” Status Result in Denial of Summary Judgment for Defendant on Plaintiff’s Title VII Hostile Work Environment Claim
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In Busby v. Syracuse City Sch. Dist., No. 5:15-CV-1007 LEK/ATB, 2015 WL 5820972 (N.D.N.Y. Oct. 5, 2015), the court adopted the Magistrate Judge’s Report and dismissed plaintiff’s employment discrimination claims as insufficiently pled. There, plaintiff alleged that she was dismissed from her employment as a “School Monitor” at the McKinley–Brighton School in Syracuse after twenty…

Read More Failure to Allege Discriminatory Motivation Results in Dismissal of Complaint
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Shawn Bickham just wanted a Coke. He got one from the fridge and started drinking. After he had finished about half the can, he “felt something get caught in his throat” which “felt like something poking and something just stuck, lodged [in his throat].” It turned out that the object was a non-metallic “dried, brittle…

Read More Case Arising From Ingestion of “Dried, Brittle Mass” From Coke Can Survives Summary Judgment Under “Res Ipsa Loquitur” Theory
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