In Geralds v. Damiano, 2015 NY Slip Op 04380 (App. Div. 1st Dept. May 21, 2015), the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed the denial of summary judgment to plaintiff. In this personal injury / motor vehicle accident /rear-end collision case: Plaintiff was injured when he was struck by a truck owned by defendant New York City…
Read More Rear-Ended Plaintiff Not Entitled to Summary JudgmentHere’s another reason not to eat potato chips – or at least not to litter. Plaintiff Yvette Hawthorne-King alleged that she slipped and fell on exterior steps of a NYC Housing Authority Building “when she used her foot to swipe aside a potato chip bag on one step, and then slipped on an oily substance…
Read More Potato Chip Bag-Kick Slip/Fall Case Survives Summary JudgmentA recent decision, Moultrie v. NYS Dep’t of Corr. & Cmty. Supervision, No. 13-CV-5138 NSR, 2015 WL 2151827 (S.D.N.Y. May 7, 2015), elaborates on how to prove employment discrimination with so-called “comparator” evidence. In this case, plaintiff, a Corrections Officer trainee at Sing Sing prison, was fired for, among other things, bringing a SIM card…
Read More Gender Discrimination Complaint Dismissed; Alleged Male Comparators Engaged in Less Serious ConductHere is the federal court complaint filed by Philippa Okoye against her employer deVere Group on May 18, 2015. She alleges hostile work environment sexual harassment, gender discrimination, associational race discrimination (in light of her husband, Lawrence Okoye’s, race), religion-based discrimination, and retaliation under the New York City Human Rights Law.
Read More Philippa Okoye’s Employment Discrimination Lawsuit Against DeVere GroupAmong the many different ways to get injured (particularly in a place like New York City) is to be hit by a falling object. Such objects can include, for example: construction site equipment, a tree or tree branch, a giant restaurant mirror, an air conditioner, rocks, or a piece of decorative terra-cotta windowsill (as in the…
Read More Injuries Resulting From Falling ObjectsIn Cooney v. City of New York Dept. of Sanitation, 2015 NY Slip Op 03465 (App. Div. 1st Dept. Apr. 28, 2015), the Appellate Division, First Department reversed a lower court decision to dismiss plaintiff’s failure-to-hire disability discrimination claims for failure to state causes of action under the New York State and New York City Human…
Read More Psoriasis-Suffering Plaintiff Suffiiently Pleads Disability DiscriminationIn Daniel v. AutoZone, Inc. (NDNY May 6, 2015), the Northern District of New York denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s race-based hostile work environment claims against the individual defendants under 42 USC 1981 and the New York State Human Rights Law. Here is the applicable law: [A]n individual defendant may be liable under section 1981.…
Read More Hostile Work Environment Claims Under 42 USC 1981 and State Human Rights Law ContinueIn Gewirtz v. New York City Dept. of Educ., 2015 NY Slip Op 50713(U) (NY Sup. Qns. Cty. May 4, 2015), the court denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s disability discrimination (failure to accommodate) and retaliation claims under the New York State Human Rights Law (SHRL) and New York City Human Rights Law (CHRL).…
Read More Teacher’s Disability Discrimination (Failure to Accommodate) and Retaliation Claims ContinueIn Bisignano v. Raabe (App. Div. 2nd Dept. May 13, 2015) – a personal injury case arising from injuries sustained by the infant plaintiff who was punched and kicked by two teenage boys while attending a fair at St. Rose of Lima Church – the court reversed summary judgment for defendants. Here is the law applicable to this…
Read More Defendants Denied Summary Judgment in Personal Injury Case Arising From Fight at Church FairIn Hermitage Ins. Co. v. Beer-Bros, Inc. of NYC (a personal injury/premises liability case), the Supreme Court, NY County (in an opinion by Judge Braun) held in a decision dated May 12, 2015 that a bar/restaurant’s insurer was not obligated to defend or indemnify the bar under the “assault and battery” exclusion in the applicable insurance policy.…
Read More “Assault and Battery” Insurance Policy Exclusion Applies Where Bystander Was Injured by Bar’s Bouncer