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A recent case, Gonzalez v. City of New York (decided by the Supreme Court, Queens County on May 4, 2015) represents yet another example of why parties to litigation – or persons who contemplate being a party to litigation – should refrain from posting on social media anything whatsoever concerning their claims. In this personal injury case,…

Read More Court Orders In Camera Inspection of Personal Injury Plaintiff’s Social Media Postings
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In Ward v. Urban Horizons II Hous. Dev. Fund Corp. (NY App. Div. 1st Dept. May 7, 2015), the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed summary judgment for plaintiff on his Labor Law § 240(1) claim. Here are the facts of this personal injury/construction accident case: Plaintiff commenced this lawsuit seeking to recover for personal injuries sustained on July…

Read More Coworker Was “Looking at Girls” Instead of Ladder-Fall Plaintiff; Summary Judgment for Plaintiff on Labor Law 240(1)/Ladder Fall Claim Affirmed
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Under New York’s “No Fault” automobile insurance system, first-party no-fault insurance benefits are not available to “occupants” of a motorcycle. But what exactly does it mean to be a motorcycle “occupant”? Consider, for example, the following accident scenario: a motorcycle passenger is ejected from her motorcycle, the motorcycle becomes airborne, and then lands on the…

Read More Ejected Motorcycle Passenger Was “Occupying” the Bike and Hence Not Entitled to First-Party Benefits Under New York’s No-Fault System
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In Sobhi v. Sociedad Textil Lonia Corp., No. 13 CIV. 8073 AT MHD, 2014 WL 7474338 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 30, 2014), the Southern District of New York held that plaintiff adequately alleged a “failure to accommodate” disability discrimination claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). From the decision: Although Defendant initially granted Plaintiff eight weeks…

Read More Employer’s Firing Plaintiff During Recovery Plausibly Suggests Failure to Accommodate Under the Americans with Disabilities Act
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In Raghavendra v. Bollinger, 2015 NY Slip Op 03775 (App. Div. 1st Dept. May 5, 2015), the court affirmed the lower court’s grant of summary judgment to defendant. This employment discrimination case (asserted under the New York State and City Human Rights Laws) illustrates how courts evaluate so-called failure to rehire cases, for statute of…

Read More Initial Rehire Refusal Triggers Statute of Limitations; Discrimination Action Was Time-Barred
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In a shocking development, the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska has issued a decision dismissing the “”lawsuit“” (one set of sarcastic quotation marks wasn’t enough, so I used two) filed last week by plaintiff Sylvia Ann Driskell against “Homosexuals”. (In her complaint, Ms. Driskell identifies herself as the “Ambassador” for God and Jesus…

Read More Court Dismisses Nebraska Woman’s Lawsuit Against Homosexuals
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In her personal injury lawsuit captioned Brouillette v. Lisa Kistermann et al. and filed in New York Supreme Court on May 4, 2015, plaintiff Robin Brouillette alleges that on March 25, 2015, defendants Lisa Kistermann and Jessica Kistermann caused her “to be precipitated down a set of stairs” and suffer injuries.

Read More Injury Lawsuit by Robin Brouillette Against Lisa and Jessica Kistermann
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In Palladino v. City of New York (App. Div. 2nd Dept. April 1, 2015), the court affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff’s trip-and-fall case. Plaintiff alleged that she was injured when she “tripped on a depression in the asphalt surface abutting a metal plate which covered a valve box that served a nearby fire hydrant.” The…

Read More Trip/Fall Case Dismissed; Half-Inch Deep Depression Was “Trivial” as a Matter of Law
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