New York Court of Appeals

The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Division’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s fraudulent inducement claim, holding that the complaint failed to allege any out‑of‑pocket pecuniary loss and therefore did not state a viable cause of action.

The New York Court of Appeals answered two certified questions: (1) FAA/DOT drug‑testing regulations do not create a New York negligence duty of care for laboratories or program administrators beyond professional‑standard testing, and (2) third‑party reliance on a defendant’s false statements does not satisfy the…

The Court of Appeals held that Aurora Loan Services had standing to commence its mortgage foreclosure action because it obtained physical possession of the original note, indorsed to the trustee-owner, before filing suit; under New York law the note, not the mortgage, is the dispositive instrument conveying standing…

The Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Division order upholding defendant's guilty-plea waiver of his right to appeal, holding that the plea colloquy—conducted largely by the prosecutor—together with defendant's age and extensive criminal history established a voluntary, knowing and intelligent waiver, which…

The court held that Dumay knowingly and voluntarily waived prosecution by misdemeanor information when defense counsel stated “So waive” in open court, even though the case had been initiated by information.

The Court held that a sentencing court must determine whether an eligible youthful offender should receive youthful offender treatment, even when the defendant does not request consideration or purports to waive it during plea bargaining.

The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Division’s order dismissing Malone’s unjust enrichment claim against Rosewood, holding that the alleged relationship between the parties was too attenuated to support liability.

The Court held that the plea colloquy did not establish a knowing and intelligent waiver of the right to appeal the harshness of the sentence, so the waiver does not bar appellate review of the sentence, and reversed the Appellate Division’s orders, remanding the case for further proceedings.

The Court of Appeals held that building owners whose utility has continuously and permanently attached equipment to their property may pursue an inverse condemnation claim for just compensation even though the utility never formally exercised its eminent domain power, and that Real Property Law § 261 shields such a…

The Court of Appeals affirmed denial of subcontractor General Fence Corporation's summary judgment motion, holding that park maintenance worker Minerva Vega is entitled to a trial on her claim that GFC's improper disposal of concrete construction debris in a Loreto Park trash can caused the shoulder injury she…

The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Division's reversal of a first-degree rape conviction entered on a negotiated guilty plea, holding that the record failed to establish a valid waiver of the right to appeal because the trial court obtained no on-record confirmation that the defendant — a first-time…

In a consolidated decision resolving three no-fault 'serious injury' appeals, the Court of Appeals held that an expert's quantitative range-of-motion measurements taken years after an accident are legally sufficient under Toure's quantitative prong to raise a fact issue, and it expressly rejected any rule requiring…

The New York Court of Appeals affirmed that the property owners are not entitled to common‑law indemnification from Gallin because Gallin did not actually supervise or control the plaintiff’s work, and contractual authority alone is insufficient.

In six consolidated appeals, the New York Court of Appeals held that defendants who were resentenced to add statutorily mandated postrelease supervision (PRS) after their original judges committed Sparber errors (failing to pronounce PRS in open court) could not escape PRS on double jeopardy or substantive due process…

The Court of Appeals affirmed the defendant's conviction, holding that counsel's failure to raise the otherwise successful statute-of-limitations defense did not constitute ineffective assistance because the record supported a legitimate strategy of allowing the factfinder to consider manslaughter as an alternative to…

The Court of Appeals, unanimously affirming, upheld pre-discovery dismissal of Mandarin Trading Ltd.'s suit against art expert Guy Wildenstein arising from its $11.3 million purchase of a Gauguin painting that Wildenstein had appraised at $15-$17 million and that failed to sell at Christie's $12 million reserve.

The court held that Labor Law § 240 (1) applies when a worker is injured by the direct force of gravity acting on a heavy object descending across a significant elevation differential, even if the object does not strike the worker and the worker does not fall.

The Court of Appeals defines what constitutes 'reliable hearsay' admissible at a SORA risk level determination hearing: hearsay is reliable—and therefore admissible under Correction Law § 168-n(3)—if, based on the circumstances surrounding the development of the proof, a reasonable person would deem it trustworthy…

The Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of hedge-fund limited partners' claims against the fund's outside counsel, Seward & Kissel (S&K), sounding in fraud, aiding and abetting fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty.

The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Division, holding that DHCR’s denial of the petition for administrative review was supported by a rational basis, that the agency’s longstanding interpretation of “demolition” suffices despite the lack of a precise statutory definition, and that the petitioner’s…

The New York Court of Appeals held that a defendant’s guilty plea forfeits any challenge to the sufficiency of a misdemeanor information and that the officer’s experience and training, together with factual details about the seized drugs, satisfy the prima facie case requirement.

The Court of Appeals reversed and dismissed IDT's remaining claims against Morgan Stanley. It held that the fiduciary-duty, intentional-interference, and misappropriation claims accrued when IDT first suffered loss from Telefonica's refusal to comply with the MOU and were therefore untimely, while the…

The Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Division’s grant of summary judgment to the City of New York, holding that the plaintiff failed to show the City’s negligent repair immediately created the dangerous pothole.

The court held that weight-of-the-evidence review must examine whether the evidence supports each element of the charged crime, even when the defendant failed to preserve a legal-sufficiency claim.

The Court of Appeals held that the evidence was legally sufficient to support the jury's finding that the defendant caused 'substantial pain,' and therefore 'physical injury,' when he bit the victim's finger while trying to escape a burglary confrontation.

The court held that a legal-malpractice plaintiff may recover consequential damages for legal fees, expert-witness fees, and related expenses incurred to correct the attorney's negligent trial error.

The court affirmed the Appellate Division’s order, concluding that most of the defendant’s challenges to the prosecutor’s summation were unreviewable because they were not properly preserved.

The Court answered the certified questions, holding that the plaintiff, as a specified donee of an incompatible kidney, has no common‑law property right in the organ and no private right of action under New York Public Health Law; consequently the district court's summary judgment in favor of the defendants is…

The court held that the intermediate appellate court did not apply an improper legal standard merely because it cited an older decision emphasizing deference to jury credibility determinations.

In a memorandum decision, the Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Division's order determining that defendant's waiver of his right to appeal was effective. Although the sentencing court's oral colloquy may have been ambiguous, defendant executed a detailed written waiver stating that he had the right to appeal…

The New York Court of Appeals held that the homeowner’s insurer must defend the policyholder in the wrongful‑death suit because the complaint alleges negligence that could be covered as an “occurrence,” and because the policy exclusion for injuries “expected or intended” does not apply to the alleged negligent…

The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Division’s denial of a late‑notice extension, holding that the hospital lacked actual knowledge of the essential facts, that the infant’s age did not create a sufficient nexus to excuse the ten‑year delay, and that the delay substantially prejudiced the hospital.

The Court held that a criminal defendant who knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waives the right to appeal as part of a negotiated guilty plea also waives the ability to seek interest-of-justice review of an otherwise legal but allegedly excessive sentence.

The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Division’s dismissal of class‑action complaints alleging breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violations of General Business Law § 349.

The court held that defendant was denied effective assistance when trial counsel failed to assert that the manslaughter charge was barred by the statute of limitations and appellate counsel failed to raise trial counsel's ineffectiveness.

The Court of Appeals affirmed defendant's conviction of conspiracy in the second degree for orchestrating the murder of rival drug dealer Angel Ortiz. It held that the March 18 declarations of Garcia and Torres were nonhearsay when offered to prove the agreement underlying the conspiracy charge, that Torres's June 1…

The Court of Appeals held that the unsecured creditors' committee adequately pleaded a breach-of-fiduciary-duty claim against Goldman Sachs as lead managing underwriter of eToys' IPO, because the complaint alleged an advisory relationship of higher trust, independent of the underwriting agreement, obligating Goldman…

In a consolidated decision of three soft-tissue 'serious injury' cases under the No-Fault Law, the Court of Appeals held that proof of a herniated disc—even with objective medical evidence—is not alone sufficient to establish a serious injury under Insurance Law § 5102 (d), and that summary dismissal may be…

The Court of Appeals held that mandatory postrelease supervision is a direct consequence of a guilty plea to a determinate sentence, so a trial court must advise the defendant of it before accepting the plea.

The Court held that res judicata barred objections asserting that the bank, as trustee of Trust B, should have challenged its prior conduct as executor of the estate and trustee of Trust A.