OPINION OF THE COURT LUCY BILLINGS , J . Petitioners in these proceedings challenge the prevailing wage schedules that the New York City Comptroller set for roadbuilders and pavers employed in public works projects in the city during fiscal years 2011, 2012, and 2013. Since petitioners' third, most recent petition incorporates the petitions and the supporting affidavits and exhibits in the two previous proceedings, this decision addresses all three petitions, but cites principally to the...
OPINION OF THE COURT Per Curiam . Respondent was admitted to the practice of law by this Court on February 7, 1986. On May 23, 2014, he was convicted upon his plea of guilty in Rochester City Court of offering a false instrument for filing in the second degree in violation of Penal Law 175.30, a class A misdemeanor. The plea was entered in satisfaction of a felony complaint alleging that, from 2009 through 2011, respondent submitted to the New York State Unified Court System Attorneys for...
In a contested probate proceeding, the objectants appeal, as limited by their brief, from so much of an order of the Surrogate's Court, Kings County (Lopez Torres, S.), dated January 14, 2013, as granted those branches of the petitioner's motion which were for summary judgment dismissing their objections to probate based on lack of testamentary capacity and undue influence. DECISION & ORDER ORDERED that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs. The decedent died on November...
OPINION OF THE COURT ACOSTA , J. At issue in this appeal is the interpretation of the plain language of a limited partnership agreement whereby plaintiff was obligated to sell his partnership interest upon the termination of his employment with defendant Manhattan Pacific if defendants made a proper offer to purchase it. We find that defendants failed to make a proper offer to purchase plaintiff's partnership interest upon his termination and therefore that plaintiff's obligation to...
OPINION OF THE COURT DORIS LING-COHAN , J. Petitioner Michael Grabell, a journalist employed by ProPublica, brings this action seeking a judgment declaring that respondent New York City Police Department (NYPD or Department) acted unlawfully in withholding documents that are not properly exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) (Public Officers Law 85 et seq. ), directing the NYPD to provide petitioner with immediate access to all the nonexempt documents that...
OPINION OF THE COURT ANDRIAS , J. In June 1994, defendants Barclay and Hoggard borrowed the principal sum of $118,050 from the Money Store, secured by a mortgage on the subject real property. In or about March of 2009, they defaulted on their mortgage payments. On July 31, 2009, plaintiff, the holder of the note and mortgage, commenced this foreclosure action. The first of nine mandatory settlement conferences pursuant to CPLR 3408 (a) was held on June 23, 2010. In an order dated March...
OPINION OF THE COURT CLARK , J. Petitioners are the owners and operators of nuclear power plants in Westchester County that are known as Indian Point Nuclear Generating Plant Unit No. 2 (hereinafter Indian Point 2) and Indian Point Nuclear Generating Plant Unit No. 3 (hereinafter Indian Point 3). "The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 `establishes a comprehensive regulatory framework for the ongoing review of nuclear power plants located in the United States' and vests the Atomic Energy...
OPINION OF THE COURT LAHTINEN , J. Numerous mechanic's liens were filed as a result of substantial unpaid construction costs stemming from a casino-and-hotel project in Sullivan County that was developed and owned by defendants Cappelli Enterprises, Inc. and Concord Associates, LP (hereinafter collectively referred to as Concord). As relevant here, defendant Cives Corporation — a subcontractor that supplied and installed structural steel — filed a mechanic's lien for nearly $9,000,000 in...
RICHARD F. BRAUN, J. This in an action seeking to compel defendants "to amend the current NYS World Trade Center Presumption Law to allow a person who served on September 11, 2001, to have the same and equal right as an active, or retired member of a retirement system, if such a person left service before the enactment of the law in August of 2005, if such person meets the qualifying requirements of the NYS World Trade Center Presumption Law, and have filed the required World Trade Center...
OPINION OF THE COURT MARCY S. FRIEDMAN , J. In this action alleging veil piercing and "de-facto merger" claims, defendants Latinvision Media, Inc. (LVM) and Carlos Vassallo move, post-answer, to dismiss all claims against them. 1 Plaintiffs Webmediabrands, Inc., Internet.com Venture Fund II, LLC and I-Venture Management, LLC cross-move for summary judgment under CPLR 3212 (a). A judgment was entered, on December 7, 2011, in plaintiffs' favor against Latinvision, Inc. (LVI) for...
OPINION OF THE COURT Per Curiam . The Grievance Committee for the Tenth Judicial District served the respondent with a verified petition, dated September 19, 2011, containing four charges of professional misconduct. The Special Referee sustained all four charges. The Grievance Committee now moves to confirm the report of the Special Referee. The respondent, by his attorney, opposes the Grievance Committee's motion to confirm the report of the Special Referee. He argues that the Grievance...
OPINION OF THE COURT MOSKOWITZ , J. In general, the presence of a third party at a communication between counsel and client is sufficient to deprive the communication of confidentiality. However, there is an exception to this rule: the common-interest privilege. Under this doctrine, a third party may be present at the communication between an attorney and a client without destroying the privilege if the communication is for the purpose of furthering a nearly identical legal interest...
OPINION OF THE COURT KAPNICK , J. In 2010, defendant was convicted of two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and one count of resisting arrest, and was sentenced to an aggregate term of 20 years to life. On appeal, he raises three issues: (1) whether the trial court violated defendant's right to counsel by disqualifying defense counsel; (2) whether the trial court violated defendant's rights under the Confrontation Clause by precluding defense counsel from...
OPINION OF THE COURT DICKERSON , J.P. Introduction The petitioner, Ranco Sand and Stone Corp. (hereinafter Ranco), owns a parcel of real property in Kings Park. The subject parcel has been leased to third parties for use primarily as a bus yard and trucking station. In 2002, Ranco filed an application with the Town of Smithtown to rezone the subject parcel to change its zoning designation from residential to heavy industrial. Several years later, the respondents Patrick Vecchio, Thomas...
OPINION OF THE COURT CLARK , J. Petitioners are the executors of the estate of Raymond C. Hammond Jr. (hereinafter decedent), who died in 2005. Decedent's will, among other things, left his residuary estate to his three sons, petitioner Brian K. Hammond, petitioner Jeffrey S. Hammond and respondent Kevin M. Hammond, as well as his two stepsons, George Beaulieu and respondent Paul A. Beaulieu (hereinafter collectively referred to as the beneficiaries). At the time of his death, decedent...
In related child custody proceedings pursuant to Family Court Act article 6, the mother appeals from an order of the Family Court, Kings County (Ramirez, J.), dated July 26, 2013, which, after hearing, granted the father's petition for sole custody of the parties' daughter and denied her cross petition for the same relief. DECISION & ORDER ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs. The essential consideration in determining custody is the best interests of the child (see Eschbach v...
OPINION OF THE COURT RICHTER , J. In this appeal, we are asked to decide whether the trial court erred in denying defendant's request for a charge on the territorial jurisdiction of New York State pursuant to CPL 20.20. The evidence at trial established the following. In February 2007, defendant Sean Judson Thomas was hired as an office manager for the Manhattan location of Fritz Hansen, a Danish furniture company. Defendant's job responsibilities included writing and signing checks to...
OPINION OF THE COURT RICHTER , J. On November 7, 2009, plaintiff Matthew Moorhouse, an Australian citizen, was arrested for the attempted rape of defendant G.P. The charged incident occurred while Moorhouse was a guest at The Standard Hotel located in the Meatpacking District in Manhattan. G.P., a Chinese immigrant who was working at the hotel as a housekeeper, alleged that while she was cleaning Moorhouse's room, he pushed her onto the bed, sexually abused her, and attempted to rape her....
MARCY S. FRIEDMAN, J. This fraud action arises out of the purchase by plaintiff IKB International S.A. in Liquidation (IKB SA) of residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS), which were securitized and sold by the Morgan Stanley defendants (Morgan Stanley). Defendants move to dismiss the complaint, pursuant to CPLR 3211, on the grounds that it is barred by the statute of limitations and fails to state a cause of action, and that plaintiffs lack standing. Standing The allegations of the...
OPINION OF THE COURT RENWICK , J. The principal question presented here is whether a judgment of conviction, entered upon a guilty plea to a particular crime, may stand when the record discloses that neither the court nor the parties realized that the agreed upon sentence, to be imposed if defendant complied with the conditions of the plea, was illegal. Although defendant violated the conditions of his plea, and the enhanced sentence was legal, defendant is entitled to a plea vacatur...
