OPINION OF THE COURT PIGOTT , J. The central issue in this appeal is whether the trial court abused its discretion in prohibiting defense counsel from questioning prospective jurors with respect to their views on involuntary confessions. Because the trial court precluded all inquiry on this topic and did so based, in part, on the prosecution's uncertainty of whether they were going to introduce defendant's inculpatory statements at trial, we conclude that the trial court abused its...
OPINION OF THE COURT ABDUS-SALAAM , J. This appeal requires us to consider whether skin color of a prospective juror is a cognizable classification upon which a challenge to a prosecutor's use of peremptory strikes under Batson v Kentucky ( 476 U.S. 79 [1986]) may be based. We recognize the existence of discrimination on the basis of one's skin color, and acknowledge that under this State's Constitution and Civil Rights Law, color is a classification upon which a Batson challenge...
OPINION OF THE COURT On review of submissions pursuant to section 500.11 of the Rules of the Court of Appeals (22 NYCRR 500.11), order affirmed, with costs, and certified question answered in the affirmative. The Appellate Division did not err in holding defendant 33 Fifth Avenue Owners Corp. breached paragraph 16 (b) of its proprietary lease by unreasonably withholding consent to transfer shares allocated to an apartment and the lease appurtenant thereto from plaintiff Estate of Helen Del...
OPINION OF THE COURT MEMORANDUM. The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed and the case remitted to Supreme Court for resentencing. A defendant has the right to be present at all material stages of trial ( see People v Ciaccio, 47 N.Y.2d 431 , 436 [1979]), including sentencing ( see CPL 380.40 [1]). We recently held that a defendant who has been convicted of a felony may waive his right to be present at sentencing, but must do so "expressly" ( People v Rossborough, 27 N.Y....
OPINION OF THE COURT RIVERA , J. Plaintiffs challenge the dismissal of their claims for lack of personal jurisdiction, alleging defendants' business activities bring them within the reach of New York's long-arm statute. We conclude that defendants' intentional and repeated use of New York correspondent bank accounts to launder their customers' illegally obtained funds constitutes purposeful transaction of business substantially related to plaintiffs' claims, thus conferring personal...
OPINION OF THE COURT FAHEY , J. We apply our precedent in Matter of Bianca v Frank ( 43 N.Y.2d 168 [1977]) to Family Court Act 439 (e) and hold that if a party is represented by counsel, the time requirements set out in the statute for objections to a support magistrate's final order, when the order is served by mail, do not begin to run until the order is mailed to counsel. Diana Odunbaku (the mother) retained Staten Island Legal Services to represent her in her efforts to obtain...
OPINION OF THE COURT On review of submissions pursuant to section 500.11 of the Rules of the Court of Appeals (22 NYCRR 500.11), order affirmed, with costs, and certified question answered in the affirmative. The motion of defendants-appellants, insofar as it sought to dismiss plaintiff's third and fourth causes of action and so much of the seventh cause of action as is based on breach of J.P. Morgan Mortgage Acquisition Corporation's warranties, was properly denied. Concur: Chief Judge...
OPINION OF THE COURT MEMORANDUM. The order of the Appellate Division, insofar as appealed from, should be reversed, with costs, defendant Rome Youth Hockey Association, Inc.'s motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint as against it granted and the certified question answered in the negative. Defendant Rome Youth Hockey Association (hereinafter defendant) is a nonprofit community sports organization fully operated by volunteers. In November 2006, defendant rented a local arena...
OPINION OF THE COURT PIGOTT , J. The issue in this defamation case is whether certain statements made by defendants during a news broadcast were "of and concerning" the plaintiffs. The underlying events occurred on November 30, 2011, when federal authorities raided the Cheetah Club (Cheetah's) in Manhattan. Authorities believed Cheetah's was one of several strip clubs involved in a trafficking ring in which members of the Bonanno and Gambino crime families illegally brought Russian and...
OPINION OF THE COURT ABDUS-SALAAM , J. These two cases call upon us to assess the continued vitality of the rule promulgated in Matter of Alison D. v Virginia M. ( 77 N.Y.2d 651 [1991]) — namely that, in an unmarried couple, a partner without a biological or adoptive relation to a child is not that child's "parent" for purposes of standing to seek custody or visitation under Domestic Relations Law 70 (a), notwithstanding their "established relationship with the child" (77 NY2d at...
OPINION OF THE COURT On review of submissions pursuant to section 500.11 of the Rules of the Court of Appeals (22 NYCRR 500.11), appeal dismissed, without costs, upon the ground that the issues presented have become moot.
OPINION OF THE COURT ABDUS-SALAAM , J. In these appeals, we are called upon to decide when, if ever, a manufacturer must warn against the danger inherent in using the manufacturer's product together with a product designed and produced by another company. Consistent with our decision in Rastelli v Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. ( 79 N.Y.2d 289 [1992]), we hold that the manufacturer of a product has a duty to warn of the danger arising from the known and reasonably foreseeable use of its...
OPINION OF THE COURT GARCIA , J. We are asked on this appeal to determine whether this CPLR article 78 proceeding was properly commenced in the Appellate Division. We hold that because the proceeding was brought against respondent Judge Robert Noonan in his capacity as a Surrogate's Court Judge, the proceeding should have been commenced in Supreme Court. * This case involves a dispute over real and personal property subject to the terms of a will executed by a now-deceased member of...
OPINION OF THE COURT GARCIA , J. This case requires that we consider whether Supreme Court properly made a final custody determination without first conducting a plenary hearing. We hold that, on this record, a hearing was required. After nearly 15 years of marriage, appellant S.L. (Mother) commenced divorce proceedings against respondent J.R. (Father), seeking full custody of their two minor children. Shortly thereafter, Father filed an order to show cause seeking temporary sole legal...
OPINION OF THE COURT PIGOTT , J. This discovery dispute involves certain attorney-client communications that defendant Bank of America Corporation and defendant Countrywide Financial Corporation shared when the two entities were in the process of merging. Generally, communications between an attorney and a client that are made in the presence of or subsequently disclosed to third parties are not protected by the attorney-client privilege. Under the common interest doctrine, however, an...
OPINION OF THE COURT MEMORANDUM. The order of County Court should be affirmed. In 2012, the legislature enacted article 20 of the Executive Law as part of the "Protection of People with Special Needs Act" to protect those "who are vulnerable because of their reliance on professional caregivers to help them overcome physical, cognitive and other challenges" (L 2012, ch 501, 1, 2). Specifically, the enactment calls for the creation of a "justice center" — the primary purpose of which is to...
OPINION OF THE COURT STEIN , J. This appeal is the second to have come before us challenging the denial of motions for summary judgment dismissing the complaint in this action, which was commenced in 2005 by the Attorney General under the Martin Act (General Business Law art 23-A) and Executive Law 63 (12) against defendants, two former officers of American International Group, Inc. As in the prior appeal, defendants challenge the availability of certain equitable relief. We again hold...
OPINION OF THE COURT MEMORANDUM. The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed, with costs, and the certified question answered in the affirmative. Petitioner CRP/Extell Parcel I, L.P., the sponsor of newly-constructed luxury condominium units in Manhattan, filed an offering plan in 2006 with the Attorney General's office. Under the plan, the purchaser of a unit was required to make a down payment upon the signing of a purchase agreement, with the down payment to be held in an...
OPINION OF THE COURT Per Curiam . In three consolidated appeals in Matter of Maron v Silver ( 14 N.Y.3d 230 [2010]), we addressed the legislature's and the Governor's practice of directly and explicitly tying consideration of judicial compensation to unrelated policy initiatives during the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 ( see id. at 245, 257). We concluded that this practice, called linkage, violated the separation of powers doctrine by undermining judicial independence, and we issued a...
OPINION OF THE COURT STEIN , J. In this shareholder class action challenging a going-private merger, we adopt the standard of review recently announced by the Delaware Supreme Court in Kahn v M & F Worldwide Corp. ( 88 A.3d 635 , 644-645 [Del 2014] [MFW]). Specifically, in reviewing challenges to going-private mergers, New York courts should apply the business judgment rule as long as certain shareholder-protective conditions are present; if those measures are not present, the entire...
