D Motion for Summary Judgment Denied

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In Doerr v. Goldsmith, the First Department recently allowed plaintiff’s injury claim, arising from an animal encounter, to proceed on a theory of negligence. In sum, the court held that the focus (at least in cases where an allegation of “vicious propensity” is not advanced) is on the dog’s humans, rather than the dog. Plaintiff…

Read More Court Allows Negligence Claim Against Dog’s Owner to Continue
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In Terry v. County of Cayuga, decided Sept. 30, 2013, the Northern District of New York denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s claim that she was subjected to retaliation under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Plaintiff, an attorney, was fired the day she returned from her two-week FMLA leave. The FMLA entitles…

Read More FMLA Retaliation Claim Continues, Despite “Extensive Evidence” of Performance Issues
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Those Romanians – always causing trouble.  First Dracula, now this. (That said, the Romanian I’m married to happens to be perfect.) A New York trial court recently held, in Weason v. Permanent Mission of Romania to the UN and Romania, that defendants were not immune under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act for injuries allegedly sustained…

Read More Romania Not Immune in Slip/Fall Case
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In the recent decision of Newsome v. County of Suffolk, the Appellate Division, Second Department, considered the “professional judgment rule” in the context of a negligence claim arising from a police dog bite. Plaintiff, a custodian, was bitten by a “dog employed by the canine unit of the Suffolk County Police Department” while at a…

Read More Police Dog Bite Case Continues
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The Southern District of New York recently decided Nelson v. City of New York, which it characterized as an atypical disability discrimination case that “raises several questions about the outer limits of federal disability law.” The court denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment (in part) with respect to plaintiff’s claims under (among other laws) the…

Read More NYPD Officer Can Continue Disability Discrimination Claims Against Defendants; No Showing That She Was a “Direct Threat” And Hence Unqualified
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In Viruet v. Port Jervis City School Dist., the Southern District of New York held that plaintiff, a Hispanic bus driver for defendant school district, presented enough evidence on her Title VII discrimination claim to defeat defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff claimed that defendant refused to permit her to “bid” for a contract bus run,…

Read More Plaintiff Defeats Summary Judgment on National Origin, Race, and Color Discrimination Claims; Claims Not Precluded By Collective Bargaining Agreement
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In Dall v. St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center, the Eastern District of New York denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment as to plaintiff’s gender discrimination claim, but granted it as to his hostile work environment and retaliation claims. Plaintiff (who is male) resigned after a female co-worker (Birmingham) filed an internal complaint of sexual…

Read More Gender Discrimination, But Not Hostile Work Environment and Retaliation Claims, Survive Summary Judgment
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An upstate trial court recently held, in King v. Cornell University, that defendant Cornell University was not entitled to summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by the parents of an intoxicated student (Khalil Jamal Godfrey King) who died after falling from a 200-foot tall cliff into the Fall Creek gorge on Cornell’s campus. The (tragic) facts,…

Read More Lawsuit Against Cornell Can Continue; Drunk Student Was Not “Hiking” When He Fell Off Cliff
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In Shane v. Supervova New York Realty LLC (NY Sup. July 8, 2013), a stairway trip-and-fall case, the court denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment, finding triable issues of fact as to whether an outside stairway defect was “trivial”. Plaintiff, a guest at a NYC Sheraton Hotel, tripped on the stairs ascending to the landing leading…

Read More Court Finds Issues of Fact as to Whether 0.5-Inch Defect Was a “Trap” or Snare” and Hence Not “Trivial”
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In Albano v. Stein, a rear-end collision case, a Brooklyn trial court denied summary judgment to defendants on the issues of liability, serious injury, and causation. There, plaintiff Albano’s car was struck from behind by a car owned by Atkins and driven by Stein: Ms. Albano was either backing or had just backed her vehicle…

Read More Brooklyn Car Accident Case Survives Summary Judgment on Liability and “Serious Injury” Threshold
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