Applying California law in a New York action, the Second Department preserved an employee’s contract counterclaim but dismissed a duplicative implied-covenant claim that conflicted with at-will terms.
The Second Department restored Labor Law §§ 200 and 240(1) claims because defendants’ late cross-motion did not address nearly identical issues raised by a timely motion.
The Second Department held that claims over a public Facebook post about a school-board election qualified for New York anti-SLAPP protection and required an award of defense fees.
The Second Department held that Town Law § 65(3)’s six-month verified-claim requirement barred a union suit seeking both damages and equitable relief under a collective bargaining agreement.
The Second Department held that a three-foot fall from a skid-steer step was outside Labor Law § 240(1), while negligence and an illumination-based § 241(6) theory survived.
The Second Department reinstated Labor Law § 200 and negligence claims because the construction manager failed to negate supervisory control or constructive notice of a defective delivery gate.
The Second Department enforced an 85% retiree health contribution after the employee left for another district because the contract imposed no direct-retirement or durational condition.
The Second Department reinstated vicarious-liability claims against Uber entities because driver-control issues remained disputed, while finding the driver and vehicle owners liable for the rear-end crash.
The Second Department held that the Scaffold Law’s homeowner exemption covered ladder work on a barn that functioned as an extension of a residence and served a substantially residential purpose.
Second Department reverses and dismisses hostile work environment and religious discrimination claims against faculty union (PSC) and its president, holding that unions have no affirmative duty to prevent workplace harassment because they do not control the employer’s work environment.
Second Department modifies ASA ruling against Goodyear: post-18 IIED and negligence claims dismissed on respondeat superior and WCL exclusivity grounds, but NY Human Rights Law hostile work environment claim survives.
The Appellate Division, Second Department affirms denial of a CPLR 3211 motion to dismiss gender- and national-origin discrimination, retaliation, and aiding-and-abetting claims against French Connection’s holding companies and individual supervisors, and allows jurisdictional discovery to proceed on the English parent holding company.
The Appellate Division, Second Department affirms summary judgment dismissing race discrimination and retaliation claims under the NYSHRL and NYCHRL brought by a former MetroPlus executive whose employment was terminated following a state Medicaid audit, finding defendants provided a legitimate non-discriminatory reason that plaintiff failed to show was pretextual.
The Appellate Division, Second Department affirms annulment of NYCERS denial of performance-of-duty disability retirement for a World Trade Center first responder, holding the Medical Board acted arbitrarily by ignoring how the paramedic’s sinus condition would interact with his actual job requirements — working in ambulances, confined spaces, and at hazmat scenes.
The Appellate Division, Second Department reversed a denial of a CPLR 3211 motion to dismiss, holding that a former hospital concierge’s NYSHRL disability discrimination and retaliation claims failed because the complaint contained only conclusory allegations about his disability and did not plead facts showing he could perform in-person patient-contact work with a reasonable accommodation.
New York’s Appellate Division, Second Department reversed summary judgment for a limousine company, holding that the Labor Law “taxicab exception” does not apply to Labor Law Article 6 wage claims, and that black car drivers operating under corporate service contracts may not fall within the Article 19 exception either.
The Appellate Division, Second Department holds that a former seminarian’s race, sexual orientation, and disability discrimination claims against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and Cardinal Dolan are non-justiciable under the First Amendment’s ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, because adjudicating them would require the court to evaluate his progress in Catholic priestly “human formation” — an inquiry into religious doctrine the courts may not conduct.
The Appellate Division, Second Department affirms denial of class certification for Asian NYPD captains alleging race discrimination in discretionary promotions to Deputy Inspector, holding that conclusory assertions of seeking “widespread, systematic reform” are insufficient to satisfy CPLR 901(a)(5)’s superiority requirement.