In Seaman v. City of New York, No. 152057/2023, 2026 WL 2632603 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Aug. 25, 2026), a discrimination case, the court granted plaintiff leave to amend their complaint to plead additional facts.
From the decision:
Plaintiff seeks leave to plead additional facts in support of the disability discrimination, hostile work environment, failure-to-accommodate, and retaliation claims already pleaded in the original Complaint under the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”), NYC Admin. Code § 8-107 et seq. Plaintiff states defendants were provided notice of these claims by the original complaint filed on March 3, 2023. Plaintiff further states that the majority of the new factual allegations concern conduct that occurred after the original complaint was filed and is within the applicable three-year statute of limitations.
Leave to amend a pleading “should be freely granted, absent prejudice or surprise resulting therefrom, unless the proposed amendment is palpably insufficient or patently devoid of merit” (Y.A. v Conair Corp., 154 AD3d 611, 612 [2017]). “The burden of demonstrating prejudice or surprise, or that a proposed amendment is palpably insufficient or patently devoid of merit, falls upon the party opposing the motion” (Chang v Chang, 221 AD3d 634, 636-37 [2d Dept 2023]).
Here, plaintiff seeks leave to amend the complaint to add additional facts in support of her discrimination, hostile work environment, failure-to-accommodate, and retaliation claims. Plaintiffs proposed amendments are not palpably insufficient or patently devoid of merit. Defendants do not argue surprise or prejudice.
Accordingly, the court granted plaintiff’s motion.