New York Court of Appeals Decisions 2024

Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves Harvey Weinstein, a well-known figure in the entertainment industry, who was convicted by a jury for various sexual crimes against three complainants. Weinstein appealed, arguing that he was judged…

Justia Opinion Summary: A real estate developer, Audthan LLC, and property owner, Nick & Duke, LLC (N & D), entered into a 40-year lease agreement in 2013 to replace a Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotel with a mixed-use residential and…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves a group of convicted sex offenders who were confined in the Fishkill Residential Treatment Facility (RTF) while on post-release supervision (PRS). The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision…

Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant, Melvin Baez, was convicted of possessing a quantity of cocaine after a nonjury trial. The conviction was based on evidence obtained during a traffic stop when NYPD officers observed Baez using his cell…

Justia Opinion Summary: The plaintiff, an adjunct professor at New York University (NYU), experienced offensive and demeaning conduct from her colleagues, including unsolicited offensive mail and online impersonation. She reported these…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case revolves around a defendant, Cid Franklin, who was arrested following a road rage incident that involved a firearm. The police searched the basement of Franklin's home, which he shared with his son and…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case revolves around the issue of when a non-eyewitness can testify to a jury that the defendant is the person depicted in a photo or video. The incident in question occurred on June 10, 2015, when a man was captured…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves a dispute over the adjusted Medicaid reimbursement rates for for-profit residential health care facilities in New York. The New York State Department of Health and its Commissioner, in response to a…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves the Walt Disney Company and International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), both multinational corporations, and their dispute with the Tax Appeals Tribunal of the State of New York. The corporations…

Justia Opinion Summary: In December 2016, an undercover police officer purchased heroin through an intermediary during a buy-and-bust operation in Manhattan. The officer did not meet the seller face-to-face but followed several feet behind the…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case revolves around Kenneth Fisher, who was convicted of three counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, based on two controlled buy operations. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case revolves around Corey Dunton, who was convicted of attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and reckless endangerment after he opened fire at a skating rink, injuring two individuals. Dunton…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves 21 U.S. citizens and the family of a deceased U.S. citizen who were victims of rocket attacks by the Hizbollah terrorist organization in Israel in 2006. The plaintiffs allege that the Lebanese Canadian…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case involved two separate lawsuits against the City of New York, where the plaintiffs, Luis Jaime and Adan Orozco, were seeking permission to serve late notices of claim for alleged intentional torts committed by…

Justia Opinion Summary: Patrick Labate was charged with a class A misdemeanor, for which he was legally entitled to a trial within 90 days of his indictment. The court's record, however, showed that Labate had not been tried 420 days after his…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case pertains to a dispute between the Department of Finance of the City of New York and Brookdale Physicians' Dialysis Associates, Inc. over the revocation of a real property tax exemption. The property in question…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the appellant, Tax Equity Now NY LLC (TENNY), challenged the property-tax system of New York City, arguing that it imposes substantially unequal tax bills on similarly valued properties that bear little…

Justia Opinion Summary: This case revolves around the trial court's discretion to grant leave for amending a complaint under CPLR 3025 (b). The plaintiffs, a group of investors, filed an action against the defendants, the managers of their…

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2005, Marta Urias and her incapacitated husband, Manuel Urias, were represented by Daniel P. Buttafuoco and his law firm in a medical malpractice suit. The suit, against four defendants, resulted in a $3.7 million…

Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved an appeal from the Appellate Division by the prosecution, contesting the vacation of a defendant's conviction of first-degree murder on the grounds that two elements of the crime were not proven by…

Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant, Jason Bohn, was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of a woman with whom he had an abusive relationship. He appealed, contending that there was insufficient evidence to establish that he…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves a plaintiff, Nafeesa Syeed, an Asian-American woman who sued Bloomberg L.P., alleging employment discrimination. She claimed she was subjected to discrimination due to her sex and race while working for…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the petitioners, who are members of Local 461, a union representing lifeguards employed by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, sought to enforce certain provisions in the union's local and…

Justia Opinion Summary: In the case of a sex offender diagnosed with severe schizophrenia and psychosis, the New York Court of Appeals held that due process does not require a competency examination before a sex offender's risk level can be…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves a defendant who was charged with burglary in the second degree as a sexually motivated felony, which required the prosecution to prove both that the defendant committed the burglary and that his…

Justia Opinion Summary: In two cases, People v Boone and People v Cotto, the Court of Appeals of New York State ruled on a central question related to the Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA). The question was whether the 30-day deadline for…

Justia Opinion Summary: The plaintiff, Srecko Bazdaric, was injured while painting an escalator during a renovation project. The escalator was covered with a plastic sheet, which Bazdaric slipped on, sustaining injuries that left him unable to…

Justia Opinion Summary: In the case of People v. Ramirez, Fernando Ramirez, the defendant, was convicted of causing a three-car collision while intoxicated, resulting in one death and four serious injuries. During the trial, which took place…

Justia Opinion Summary: In a dispute involving a fatal stabbing outside a Manhattan bar in 2000, defendant Gonzalo Aguilar appealed his conviction of murder in the second degree, attempted murder in the second degree, and assault in the first…

Justia Opinion Summary: In the case before the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, the defendant was initially charged with a felony, released on bail, and then arrested three more times for additional violent felonies. The People sought…

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2016, Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), offered a bond swap whereby its noteholders could exchange unsecured notes due in 2017 for new, secured notes due in 2020. PDVSA…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves Clifton Park Apartments, LLC and its attorney (collectively referred to as "Pine Ridge"), CityVision Services, Inc. ("CityVision"), and the New York State Division of Human Rights ("DHR"). CityVision is…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves Consolidated Restaurant Operations (CRO), a company that owns and operates dozens of restaurants, and Westport Insurance Corporation (Westport). CRO had an "all-risk" commercial property insurance…

Justia Opinion Summary: This case revolves around the tragic drowning of a 14-year-old boy at a dam on Buffalo Creek in Erie County. The victim's mother brought a negligence and wrongful death lawsuit against the Joint Board of Directors of…

Justia Opinion Summary: In New York, a man named Joshua Messano was indicted for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon after police officers discovered a loaded handgun in his car. Messano moved to suppress this evidence, arguing that…