December 2018

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In Rivas v. New York State Lottery, 2018 WL 6656390 (2d Cir. Dec. 18, 2018) (Summary Order), the court (inter alia) affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff’s retaliation claim. What makes this case arguably somewhat unique is that the alleged retaliation occurred after plaintiff left defendant’s employment. From the Order: The District Court did not err in…

Read More Post-Termination Retaliation Claim Dismissal Affirmed
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In Lonergan-Milligan v. New York State Office of Mental Health, 2018 WL 6605686 (W.D.N.Y. Dec. 17, 2018), the court dismissed plaintiff’s Title VII sexual harassment (hostile work environment) claim. The law: A prima facie case of a hostile work environment involves two showings: (1) that the complained-of conduct ‘was sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter…

Read More Hostile Work Environment Claim Dismissed; Conduct Was Neither “Severe” Nor “Pervasive”
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In Tzamarot v. JP Morgan Chase & Co., 2018 NY Slip Op 09023 (App. Div. 1st Dept. Dec. 27, 2018), the court unanimously affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff’s slip-and-fall complaint. The court (tersely) stated: Dismissal of the complaint was proper since plaintiff’s attempt to walk on top of a curbside mound of snow as a shortcut…

Read More Attempted Shortcut Leads to Injury, Dismissal of Slip-and-Fall Complaint
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In Burgis v. City of New York Dept. of Sanitation, 2018 NY Slip Op 33322(U) (NY Sup. Ct. NY Cty. Dec. 20, 2018), the court dismissed plaintiffs’ claims of discriminatory failure to promote. As to the disparate treatment claim, the court explained: Here, as defendant contends, the Court finds that the complaint is devoid of any…

Read More NYC Sanitation Department Wins Dismissal of Discriminatory Failure-to-Promote Claims
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Defamation claims are not easy to prove. One (substantial) hurdle that a defamation plaintiff must overcome is demonstrating that the alleged defamatory remark was a false statement of fact, rather than (non-actionable) opinion. This is illustrated by a recent court decision, Cardali v. Slater, 2018 NY Slip Op 08544 (App. Div. 1st Dept. Dec. 13, 2018).…

Read More Libel Claim Properly Dismissed; “Common Criminal” Remark Was Nonactionable Opinion
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In Avril Nolan, Claimant, State of New York, Defendant., No. 123283, 61 Misc. 3d 1225(A), 2018 N.Y. Slip Op. 51789(U), 2018 WL 6497131 (N.Y.Ct.Cl., Nov. 08, 2018), the Court of Claims awarded the Claimant – a model whose image was used by the New York State Division of Human Rights in an advertising campaign to…

Read More Model Awarded $125k in Damages Arising Out of Use of Image in HIV Rights Campaign
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Christmas and egg nog go together like, well, Christmas and egg nog. It’s a tasty drink with a few recipe variations. But this isn’t a holiday recipe blog, it’s a legal blog! So I thought I’d share an interesting older (1949) decision I came across. The case is People v Queens Farms Dairy, 90 N.Y.S.2d…

Read More Egg Nog Defendant Guilty
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One type of personal injury (negligence) claim is the so-called “negligent security” claim – which is itself a type of “premises liability” claim. In this type of case, the plaintiff asserts that the property owner or landlord failed to take necessary precautions to prevent harm arising from the alleged failure to provide adequate security. (One…

Read More “Negligent Security” Premises Liability Claims in New York
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In Roskin-Frazee v. Columbia University, 17-CV-2032, 2018 WL 6523721 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 26, 2018), the court dismissed plaintiff’s claim under Title IX of the United States Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a) (and state causes of action) against Columbia University. In this case, plaintiff alleged “that Defendant created a culture of sexual hostility on…

Read More Student-on-Student Sexual Harassment Title IX Claim Dismissed Against Columbia
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