While the facts and details surrounding Friday’s tragic Empire State Building shooting have yet to be fully developed, the reports thus far indicate that several (as many as nine) bystanders were wounded by police bullets. This raises the question of what, if any, liability will be imposed on the City of New York and/or the…
Read More Liability Where Bystanders Shot By Police?In Brathwaite v. Frankel (decided August 21, 2012), the Appellate Division, First Department unanimously reversed a lower court’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ disability discrimination claims under the New York City Human Rights Law. First, the court held that the trial court improperly treated defendants’ motion, brought under CPLR 3211(a)(7) and (10), as one for summary judgment because it…
Read More First Department Holds That Plaintiffs Adequately Pleaded Disability Discrimination Claim Under the NYC City Human Rights LawIn Donnelly v. Greenburgh Central School Dist. (2d Cir. Aug. 10, 2012), plaintiff, a former high school teacher, alleged that his employer unlawfully denied him tenure in retaliation for taking protected leave pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”). Plaintiff received negative reviews and was denied tenure shortly after he took medical leave…
Read More Second Circuit Reverses FMLA Decision Against High School TeacherBelow is a recently-filed complaint alleging race discrimination and retaliation against Mercedes Benz of Manhattan, its general manager, and its director of human resources. Plaintiffs Guyton and Grammer, two African Americans who held high-level managerial positions, claimed that after encountering and complaining about racist graffiti – consisting of a swastika, a stick figure hanging from a…
Read More Race Discrimination Lawsuit Against MercedesThis week Judge Crotty awarded plaintiffs $3,415,450.00 in attorneys’ fees and $442,609.85 in costs in a lawsuit brought by employees of Gristede’s for violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law. The court held that “[i]n light of the purposes underlying fee-shifting statutes, fees sought pursuant to the FLSA…
Read More SDNY Wage/Hour $3+ Million Attorney Fee AwardIn Barker v. Peconic Landing at Southhold, Inc., 2012 WL 3096036 (E.D.N.Y. July 30, 2012), plaintiff alleged disability discrimination and a violation of New York’s whistleblower statute, Labor Law Section 740. Plaintiff’s latter claim was that he was fired in retaliation for reporting “a growing drug problem among fellow nurses and nurse’s assistants”, thefts, and…
Read More Assertion of Whistleblower Claims Does Not Result in Waiver of Disability Discrimination ClaimsBelow are three separate complaints filed yesterday by, respectively, plaintiffs Julie Lawler, Kelly Hanlin, and Damien Crisp against the City of New York and several named and “John Doe” NYPD employees, for damages and injunctive relief under, inter alia, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The crux of plaintiffs’ claims is that they were injured as a…
Read More OWS Pepper Spray LawsuitsOn July 24th, the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff’s claim that a restaurant violated Title III of the Americans With Disabilities Act by restricting her access, and that of her service dog, to the restaurant and by verbally harassing her. The case, Krist v. Kolombos Restaurant, Inc., No. 11-1263-cv, should give paws –…
Read More Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Service Dog Discrimination ClaimsLast week, plaintiff Robert Bell filed a complaint (see below) against NYPD officers and the City of New York following his arrest for – any guesses, given the graphic? – giving cops the finger. Plaintiff brought his claims under 42 U.S.C. §1983, Monell, the New York constitution, and New York common law. Mr. Bell was…
Read More Man Arrested For Giving Cops the Finger SuesOn June 30, the NYC Criminal Court rejected Twitter’s attempt to quash a subpoena seeking “any and all user information, including email addresses, as well as any and all tweets posted for the period of September 15, 2011 to December 31, 2011” from a Twitter account maintained by defendant Malcolm Harris (whose tweets, apparently, bolstered…
Read More Court: Tweets Are “Gifted To The World”; Must Be Produced In OWS Case