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In Slattery v. Sachem N. High Sch., the Appellate Division, Second Department recently affirmed the lower court’s denial of defendants’ motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff claimed she “tripped and fell due to a difference in height between two concrete slabs of a sidewalk abutting the defendants’ premises.” The court explained the legal standard for determining…

Read More Sidewalk Defect Was Not “Trivial” as a Matter of Law; Trip-and-Fall Case Continues
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Recently an appellate court affirmed a trial court’s denial of a defendant’s motion for spoliation sanctions in a bicycle-related personal injury action. Here are the facts in Carlos v. Castillo, decided February 27, 2014: On January 26, 2009, plaintiff commenced this action seeking damages for injuries sustained on September 5, 2008, when, while riding a…

Read More Disposal of Bicycle Involved in Accident Did Not Give Rise to Spoliation Sanctions
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In Cocco v. City of New York, the Appellate Division, First Department yesterday affirmed the dismissal of a personal injury lawsuit arising from an errant baseball striking the plaintiff. “[P]laintiff alleges that she was walking on the sidewalk, heading south on Lexington Avenue between 96th and 95th Streets, when a baseball coming from a schoolyard, owned…

Read More Baseball to Face But Sadly No Case
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Recently, in Southerland v. Woo, 99 Civ. 3329, 2014 WL 704327 (EDNY 2014), Eastern District of New York Judge Brian Cogan denied attorney Brian King admission pro hac vice – a legal term meaning admission “for this occasion only” – in the retrial of a civil rights matter brought by a father and his children against a former…

Read More Citing Lack of Respect and Unfamiliarity With Rules, Court Denies Lawyer Admission Pro Hac Vice
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In Giudice v. Red Robin Int’l, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal on summary judgment of plaintiff’s retaliation claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the New York State Human Rights Law. Under both statutes: [T]o make out a prima facie case of retaliation, a plaintiff…

Read More Retaliation Claim Fails Where Discipline Preceded Complaint of Harassment
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In Pryor v. Jaffe & Asher, the Southern District of New York held that plaintiff adequately stated claims for hostile work environment, gender discrimination, and constructive discharge. Here are the facts, taken from plaintiff’s complaint: Defendant Jaffe & Asher is a law firm doing business in New York, New York. Defendant Jeffrey Tseng, an employee…

Read More Plaintiff Sufficiently Alleged Hostile Work Environment, Gender Discrimination, and Constructive Discharge Claims Against Law Firm
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In Degen v. Uniondale Union Free School District, the Appellate Division, Second Department recently affirmed the denial of plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on his Labor Law § 240(1) claim. “In order to establish liability under Labor Law § 240(1), there must be a violation of the statute, and the violation must be a proximate cause…

Read More Plaintiff Denied Summary Judgment on Labor Law § 240(1) Claim
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Below is the New York State Court complaint alleging sexual assault by a massage patron, as reported in today’s New York Post. Specifically, plaintiff Lauren Leakey claims that, during a massage while at the Setai Spa and Club‘s Wall Street location in April 2013, she was sexually assaulted by Setai employee Jason Turner. In particular, plaintiff alleges (among…

Read More Sex Assault Lawsuit Against Setai Spa and Club
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I’ve spent many Saturdays wandering around Barnes & Noble bookstores. Years ago I would frequent the Astor Place store; after it closed my go-to location became the Union Square store. That was my awkward segue into today’s post, about a slip-and-fall case against the behemoth bookseller. The accident in this case, Seleman v. Barnes & Noble, occurred…

Read More Escalator Slip/Fall Case Against Barnes & Noble Continues
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In Chepak v. Metropolitan Hospital (Summary Order), the Second Circuit recently vacated a trial court’s judgment dismissing plaintiff’s Equal Pay Act and Title VII discrimination claims for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). The court noted that “a complaint alleging workplace discrimination and retaliation need not allege specific facts…

Read More Second Circuit Revives Equal Pay Act and Title VII Discrimination Claims
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