In Taft v. Agric. Bank of China Ltd., No. 15 CIV. 5321 (PAE), 2016 WL 80209 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 6, 2016), the Southern District of New York ruled on defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s whistleblower retaliation claim under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). Plaintiff alleged that “she was subjected to frequent sexually charged comments and gender-related…
Read More Court Interprets Retaliation Provision of the Bank Secrecy ActIn Irizarry v. 1915 Realty LLC, 2016 NY Slip Op 00009 (App Div. 1st Dept. Jan. 5, 2016), the Appellate Division, First Department reversed the lower court’s order granting summary judgment to defendant on plaintiff’s personal injury/premises liability/slip-and-fall case. Teh court explained: Triable issues of fact regarding whether defendant caused or created the wet stair condition…
Read More Wet Stairway Slip/Fall Case Survives Summary JudgmentIn Elsayed v. Al Farha Corp., 2015 NY Slip Op 07813, 132 AD3d 942 (App. Div. 2nd Dept. Oct. 28, 2015), the Second Department affirmed the denial of defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff alleged that he fell into opened sidewalk cellar doors of a building owned by defendant T&T Steinway, LLC, from which defendant tenant…
Read More Cellar Door Personal Injury Case Continues; Defendant Failed to Establish That it Was an Out-of-Possession LandlordIn personal injury litigation against the City of New York, the name of the game is the Notice of Claim. In Lewis v. New York City Hous. Auth., 2016 NY Slip Op 00040 (App. Div. 1st Dept. Jan. 7, 2016), the court affirmed the lower court’s order granting defendant’s motion to strike allegations from plaintiff’s…
Read More Court Precludes Theory Not Asserted in Notice of ClaimIn Haight v. NYU Langone Med. Ctr., Inc., No. 13 CIV. 4993 (LGS), 2016 WL 29628 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 4, 2016), the Southern District of New York denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s sex-based hostile work environment (sexual harassment) and disability discrimination claims, but granted it with respect to her negligent supervision/retention claims. (2014…
Read More Pediatric Nurse’s Sexual Harassment and Disability Discrimination Claims Against NYU Langone Medical Center Survive Summary JudgmentIn Magnotti v. Crossroads Healthcare Mgmt., LLC, No. 14-CV-6679 ILG RML, 2015 WL 5173528 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 3, 2015), the court held the plaintiff, a pharmacist, plausibly alleged a claim of retaliation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It explained: In order to state a claim for retaliation, plaintiff must allege that (1) he engaged in an…
Read More Pharmacist’s Complaint of Reduction in Hours After Surgery Supports ADA Retaliation ClaimIn Martinez v. Mount Sinai Hosp., No. 14 CIV. 2548 (PAC), 2015 WL 9450624 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 22, 2015), the court dismissed plaintiff’s failure-to-accommodate-disability claims under the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL) and New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL). The law: To prevail on her NYCHRL and NYSHRL claims, Plaintiff bears the initial burden…
Read More Failure to Request Specific Accommodation Results in Dismissal of Disability Discrimination (Failure to Accommodate) ClaimsIn Alexander-Callender v. NBTY et al, No. 14-CV-2462 (JS)(AYS), 2015 WL 9581819 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 30, 2015), the Eastern District of New York dismissed, as insufficiently pled, plaintiff’s sexual harassment (hostile work environment), race discrimination, and retaliation claims. In her complaint, plaintiff alleged that a co-worker, for example, stared at plaintiff in a “sexually inappropriate manner”…
Read More Sexual Harassment Hostile Work Environment Claim Insufficiently AllegedThe tragic story of Connor Cummings, who died while trying to take a photo atop NYC’s Four Seasons Hotel, is making the rounds. Assuming Mr. Cummings was trespassing, might he have a claim? It depends. A recent Second Circuit decision, Philip v. Deutsche Bank Nat. Trust Co., No. 14-4054-CV, 2015 WL 6642978 (2d Cir. Nov. 2, 2015) (Summary…
Read More Court Affirms Dismissal of Trespasser’s Personal Injury CaseIn a lawsuit filed on December 30, 2015 in New York Supreme Court (Figueroa v. Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden et al., Index # 163141/2015), plaintiff Carlos Figueroa, a chauffeur and office clerk employed by the Sweden’s New York Mission to the United Nations, asserts various claims, including for personal injuries (sustained while assembling…
Read More Personal Injury and Discrimination Lawsuit Against Sweden’s New York Mission to the United Nations