Car accident cases typically involve questions of fact, such as who had the red/green light, who entered the intersection first, whether a driver was looking at their cell phone at the time of impact, etc. – the list goes on and on. This is why it may be difficult for one party to a car…
Read More Questions of Fact Preclude Summary Judgment for Plaintiff in Car Accident CaseIn Guzman v. Broadway 922 Enters., LLC, decided July 2, 2015, the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed the denial of defendant’s motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s snow/ice slip-and-fall case. The court considered, and rejected, defendant’s defense based on the so-called “storm in progress” rule. In addition, it provides an example of one way a…
Read More Snow/Ice Slip-and-Fall Case Continues Based on Testimony that Ice Was “Dark” and “Dirty”In Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures (decided July 2, 2015), the Second Circuit addressed a question of first impression in this Circuit, namely, when an unpaid intern is entitled to compensation as an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In this case, unpaid interns working on the Fox Seachlight-distributed film Black Swan or at Fox’s…
Read More Second Circuit Clarifies When Interns are “Employees”, and Entitled to Wages, Under the FLSAIn Hexemer v. General Electric Co. et al., 2015 WL 3948418 (NDNY June 29, 2015), the court explained the framework for proving a retaliation claim under the New York State Human Rights Law and 42 USC § 1981: [A] plaintiff must first make out a prima facie case by showing that: (1) the employee engaged in…
Read More Evidence of “Shifting and Inconsistent Explanations” For Plaintiff’s Termination Supports Retaliation ClaimIn Duckett v New York Presbyt. Hosp., 2015 NY Slip Op 05769 (App. Div. 1st Dept. July 2, 2015), the court affirmed the denial of defendant’s motion for summary judgment dismissing plaintiff’s disability discrimination claim. The court held: Issues of fact exist as to whether the hospital unlawfully terminated petitioner’s employment because of her disability. There…
Read More Disability (Mental Illness) Discrimination Claim Against Hospital Survives DismissalOn June 29, 2015, a Manhattan federal jury awarded plaintiff Hanna Bouveng $18 million in her sexual harassment lawsuit against Benjamin Wey and his company, New York Global Group. This verdict is not necessarily the end of the matter; Judge Gardephe has already set a briefing schedule for post-trial motions. Here are the verdict form…
Read More Jury Awards Hanna Bouveng $18M in Sexual Harassment Suit Against Benjamin WeyIn People v. Gonzalez, 2015 Slip Op 05515 (June 25, 2015), the New York Court of Appeals held that a motion to suppress an illegal knife should have been granted, where the basis for the initial police stop – “disorderly conduct”, codified at NY Penal Law § 240.20(3) – was not supported by probable cause.…
Read More “Rant” Against Police Officers Was Not “Disorderly Conduct”In Lico v. TD Bank, 2015 WL 3467159 (EDNY June 1, 2015), the Eastern District of New York held that the plaintiff successfully alleged a violation of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) § 207(r). That statute, titled “Reasonable break time for nuring mothers”, provides, in pertinent part: (A) a reasonable break time for an employee to express…
Read More Court Holds FLSA’s Lactation Statute is Privately Enforceable and Explains Remedies for ViolationIn Massie v. Metro. Museum of Art, No. 11-CV-9549 JPO, 2015 WL 3833839 (S.D.N.Y. June 22, 2015), the Southern District of New York reiterated that, when asserting a hostile work environment claim, [a] plaintiff need not show that the incidents rendered the work environment “unendurable” or “intolerable,” but she must, to survive a motion for summary…
Read More Court Dismisses Hostile Work Environment Claim Based on “Severe” (but “Isolated”) RemarksIn a sexual harassment lawsuit captioned Smalls v. Central Park Boathouse, LLC et al., 15-cv-4973 and filed in the Southern District of New York on June 25, 2015, plaintiff Akira Smalls alleges, among other things, that a manager asked her “Do you like anal?” and, after asking her where the ATM was located, told her that ATM…
Read More Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Central Park Boathouse