Recent Blog Posts
Will the Supreme Court Open the Door to Retaliatory Arrests?
In a case argued before the United States Supreme Court on March 21st, the court may open the door allowing the police to arrest people in retaliation for exercising their First Amendments rights, so long as the police can show they had some other probable cause to make the arrest. The case heard by… Read More »
Civil Rights Under Bivens and Private Prisons
A federal statute, 42 U.S.C. 1983, provides the basis for civil lawsuits against state or local government officials who violate a person’s civil rights while acting under color of law. But what about federal government officials? Section 1983 does not apply to them, and there is no other comparable statute that would make liable… Read More »
Lawsuit to Stop Illegal Stops
A class action law suit is underway against the New York Police Department in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, challenging the constitutionality of its stop-and-frisk policies. This case, Floyd v. City of New York, has been actually been underway for several years. The latest action in the… Read More »
Can You Still Refuse to Consent to a Search?
In a stunning decision by the Supreme Court this January, the court seems to be saying that a homeowner’s refusal to give the police consent to enter the home can itself create probable cause allowing the police to enter the house without a warrant. If this is the case, can you ever again refuse… Read More »
Like the Floor, Hospital’s Defense of Slip and Fall Claim Was All Wet
This March, the Supreme Court in New York County denied the defendant’s motion for summary judgment to dismiss the case of Koutsos v. New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Campus, an action to recover damages for personal injury caused in a slip and fall accident that occurred during a snowstorm in March of 2007. The… Read More »
Not All Regulations Are Created Equal
New York Labor Law section 241(6) requires employers to provide reasonable and adequate protection and safety to construction workers. In order to state a claim that this section was violated, an injured worker must identify a particular Industrial Code regulation that was violated by the defendant. As a recent case in the Supreme Court,… Read More »
How Do You Plead?
Just because you were injured by the negligence of another, that does not guarantee you can receive compensation for your injuries. As the plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit, you bear the burden of proving every element of the case by a preponderance of the evidence to the jury’s satisfaction. The defendants, meanwhile, are… Read More »
Injured Workers Are Not Required to Prove Accident was Foreseeable to Win Summary Judgment on Labor Law 240(1) Claim
In Cesar Ortega v. New York, a construction worker was injured when a heavy metal pipe caused the platform/scaffold he was working on to topple over, sending him down eight feet to the ground. The construction project at issue was the Second Avenue Subway Tunnel Construction Project in Manhattan, so the worker sued the… Read More »
A Hole in the Street Injures Plaintiff’s Ankle; A Hole in Defendant’s No-Fault Theory Saves her Case from Dismissal
A passenger steps off of a city bus and into a hole in the street, causing her to fall and sprain her ankle. She sues the bus company and the City of New York, both of whom move to dismiss the case on the grounds that the plaintiff did not establish a serious injury… Read More »
Not All Eye Injuries Are Serious Injuries
A recent case in Queens County shows that not all eye injuries are “serious injuries” under New York law. This case also points up the challenges an injured plaintiff faces in getting an automobile accident personal injury case to trial. New York has no-fault insurance, which generally speaking allows automobile accident victims to recover… Read More »