The First Department remitted a rent-overcharge case so the trial court can apply the revised common-law and statutory fraudulent-deregulation standards together.
The First Department upheld DHCR’s use of Operational Bulletin 95-2 and its rejection of conclusory proof for a claimed 1980s substantial-rehabilitation exemption.
The First Department publicly censured a high-volume trademark lawyer who failed to verify client signatures and allowed unauthorized third parties to file using his email identity.
The First Department held that calculating incarceration tolling for predicate-felony status is ministerial and does not require a jury under Erlinger.
The First Department reinstated unfair-competition and idea-misappropriation claims alleging that a cofounder diverted a premium coworking concept, branding, designs, and hotel opportunities.
The First Department held that conflicting expert opinions over the governing Building Code prevented an out-of-possession owner and manager from defeating a worker’s concealed-hole claim.
The First Department affirmed dismissal of a ureter-injury malpractice claim because the plaintiff’s expert did not answer the defense explanation that delayed tissue damage would not have been visible during surgery.
The First Department reinstated a Labor Law § 241(6) claim over a cracked exterior step while preserving negligence issues and dismissing contribution claims barred by the Workers’ Compensation Law.
The First Department ordered a second resentencing because the judge denying youthful-offender treatment appeared unfamiliar with the defendant’s actual offense and personal circumstances.
The First Department kept a delayed pulmonary-embolism claim against a hospital alive but dismissed the treating emergency physician because the opposition relied on facts contradicted by the medical record.
The First Department reinstated an indictment after recalculating the CPL 30.30 clock at 97 days, excluding codefendant motion practice, reasonable preparation time, and defense-caused delay.
The First Department imposed liability for eight apartments knowingly deregulated after Roberts and ordered a fraud trial over 23 pre-Roberts deregulations.
The First Department held that divorce-litigation funding with multiple unconditional repayment triggers was a loan and void because its 18.96% rate was usurious.
The First Department affirms summary judgment for a stone mechanic struck by a 350-pound falling panel, holding that all four defendants — including a post-merger associate, a lobby condominium, and a building manager who contracted for the work — qualify as owners or statutory agents under Labor Law § 240(1).
The First Department remands a commercial lease arbitration award back to the arbitrators where the panel determined liability for unpaid rent but left open the effect of the tenant’s surrender, whether future rent obligations survived lease termination, and how interest and post-award obligations should be calculated.
The First Department reverses a Supreme Court order annulling a DOC demotion, holding that provisional appointments under Civil Service Law § 65 carry no tenure and no right to a hearing — and that a provisional appointment does not ripen into permanent status through the passage of time, only through civil service examination.
The First Department affirms Family Court findings of sexual abuse against a child’s mother’s intimate partner who served as weekend caretaker, upholding the court’s jurisdiction over him as a ‘legally responsible person’ and the admissibility of the seven-year-old’s forensic interview and hospital statements as corroborated evidence.
The First Department applies the law of the case doctrine to bar a pro se defamation defendant from asserting privilege on a second summary judgment motion, where he had deliberately withheld the defense in the first motion and the prior appellate decision found his statements went to a ‘nonprivileged party.’
The First Department reverses a trial court’s limitation of legal malpractice damages, holding that whether a client’s misrepresentations to Walmart constituted an intervening superseding cause raises a triable issue of fact — and that $40 million in EPA-embargoed inventory losses are not capped by the client’s separate fraud.
The First Department dismisses an Article 78 challenge to NYCHA’s redevelopment plan for the Elliot and Chelsea Houses, holding that the four-month CPLR 217(1) limitations period began running from NYCHA’s July 28, 2025 record of decision — leaving the December 22, 2025 filing untimely by nearly a month.
The First Department holds that sexual abuse claimants cannot intervene in their abuser’s insurance coverage declaratory judgment action until they obtain a judgment against the insured, as Insurance Law § 3420(b)(1)’s specific judgment requirement overrides CPLR 1012(a)(2)’s broader intervention right.
The First Department upholds Labor Law § 241(6) liability for rainwater and oil on a construction floor, while affirming dismissal of § 240(1) where the concrete form being lifted never fell or moved uncontrollably. Post-Bazdaric, defendants must show the hazardous substance was inherent to the specific task.
The First Department reverses a Surrogate’s Court order directing a trust to reimburse a trustee’s ,050,000 in legal fees, holding the petition must be held in abeyance until a pending federal action determines whether the trustee committed the alleged fiduciary breach.
The First Department holds that the Bronx County Historical Society is an “employer” subject to the Labor Law’s minimum wage obligations, and clarifies that in-kind compensation (rent, utilities) offsets unpaid wages owed to a live-in caretaker — not liquidated damages.