Justia New York Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Plaintiffs sued the former spouse of Stephen Walsh, who was a defendant in related actions brought by plaintiffs, alleging that the property derived from Walsh's illegal securities activities went into the former spouse's possession under the parties' separation agreement and divorce decree. At issue, in certified questions to the court, was whether the former spouse had a legitimate claim to those funds, which would prevent plaintiffs from obtaining disgorgement from her. The court held that an innocent spouse who received possession of tainted property in good faith and gave fair consideration for it should prevail over the claims of the original owner or owners consistent with the state's strong public policy of ensuring finality in divorce proceedings. View "Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Walsh, et al." on Justia Law

This case stemmed from Reliance Group Holdings, Inc.'s ("RGH") and Reliance Financial Services Corporation's ("RFS") voluntary petitions in Bankruptcy Court seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and the trust that was established as a result. The trust subsequently filed an amended complaint alleging actuarial fraud and accounting fraud against respondents. At issue was whether the trust qualified for the so-called single-entity exemption that the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 ("SLUSA"), 15 U.S.C. 77p(f)(2)(C); 78bb(f)(5)(D), afforded certain entities. The court held that the trust, established under the bankruptcy reorganization plan of RGH as the debtor's successor, was "one person" within the meaning of the single-entity exemption in SLUSA. As a result, SLUSA did not preclude the Supreme Court from adjudicating the state common law fraud claims that the trust had brought against respondents for the benefit of RGH's and RFS's bondholders. Accordingly, the court reversed and reinstated the order of the Supreme Court. View "The RGH Liquidating Trust v. Deloitte & Touche LLP, et al." on Justia Law

Defendant was charged with attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and criminal possession of a controlled substance where defendant was arrested for a shooting death, defendant's gray minivan was subsequently searched, and cocaine was recovered from a compartment behind the ashtray of the front console. After a jury convicted defendant of some of the charges, defendant appealed the Supreme Court's denial of his motion to suppress physical evidence. At issue was whether the Appellate Division erred by upholding the denial of suppression on a basis that the Supreme Court had squarely rejected. The court held that the Appellate Division's decision with respect to the suppression was clearly erroneous under People v. LaFontaine where CPL 470.15(1) precluded that court from affirming denial of suppression on the basis of consent because the trial judge ruled in defendant's favor on the issue. Consequently, the court had to decide whether granting suppression would be harmless with respect to defendant's conviction for the other crimes. The court held that there was no reasonable possibility that the evidence supporting the potentially tainted count, a drug possession crime related to the cocaine discovered, had a spillover effect on the guilty verdicts for weapon possession and assault. Accordingly, the order of the Appellate Division should be modified by remitting to the Supreme Court for further proceedings in accordance with the opinion, and as modified, affirmed. View "The People v. Concepcion" on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted of weapon possession crimes, reckless endangerment, and menacing and endangering the welfare of a child. At issue was whether there was a conflict of interest where the newly-elected district attorney, who had previously represented defendant, immunized a witness from prosecution. The court held that the prosecutor possessed discretion to decide when to immunize a witness from prosecution and the County Court was a competent authority to confer immunity when expressly requested by the district attorney to do so. Therefore, the district attorney's "permission" did not vest the special prosecutor with any more authority than he already enjoyed. Accordingly, defendant failed to demonstrate actual prejudice or a substantial risk of an abused confidence to warrant vacatur of his conviction. View "The People v. Abrams" on Justia Law

Petitioners, 23 transportation vendors, commenced a CPLR article 78 proceeding to prevent the Department of Education ("DOE") from implementing allegedly illegal bid solicitations related to a school transportation contract. At issue was whether certain specifications in the bid solicitations of the DOE comported with the public bidding laws. The court held that the "Employee Protection Provisions" ("EPPs") contained in the solicitation were subject to heightened scrutiny and held that the DOE had not proven that the EPPs were designed to save the public money, encourage robust competition, or prevent favoritism. The court, however, applied the rational basis review to the remaining disputed bid specifications and held that the DOE's actions regarding pricing of school transportation and discounted payment arrangements were rational business judgments that lie within the DOE's discretion. View "In the Matter of L&M Bus Corp. " on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed an action for defamation and unfair competition by disparagement against defendants, alleging that defendants published defamatory statements about plaintiff on a website. At issue was whether plaintiff's claim against the website operator arising out of allegedly defamatory comments posted to the website was barred by the Communications Decency Act ("CDA"), 47 U.S.C. 230. The court held that defendants' added headings and illustrations did not materially contribute to the defamatory nature of the third-party statements and therefore, plaintiff failed to state a viable cause of action against defendants, as his claims were clearly barred by the CDA. Accordingly, the order of dismissal was affirmed. View "Shiamili v. The Real Estate Group of New York, Inc." on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted of second degree manslaughter and first degree reckless endangerment for her role in the events leading to the death of her son. At issue was whether there was sufficient evidence to support her convictions. The court held that there was sufficient evidence to support defendant's conviction for manslaughter in the second degree where defendant knew of the substantial and unjustifiable risk that her boyfriend would injure her son fatally and where the jury was also justified in finding that she consciously disregarded the risk. The court held, however, that the evidence was insufficient to support defendant's conviction of reckless endangerment where evidence that defendant not only knew of, but tried to conceal her boyfriend's abuse of her son, did not prove indifference. Accordingly, the court upheld the conviction of manslaughter and vacated the conviction of reckless endangerment. View "The People v. Lewie" on Justia Law

The Family Court terminated Stephen K.'s parental rights due to his persistent failure to comply with court-mandated conditions and the lack of evidence evincing efforts to adequately provide for his family. At issue was whether Stephen K.'s application to represent himself was unequivocal and timely. The court affirmed the Appellate Division's unanimous holding that his application was not unequivocal and timely where counsel proffered no compelling circumstances to justify the need to grant the application and where there was nothing in the record to indicate that a compelling factor had arisen to warrant particular consideration by the court. View "In the Matter of Kathleen K." on Justia Law

Appellant filed a petition, pursuant to CPLR article 78, to set aside the award of a contract to a third party and to direct the Town of Southeast to award the contract to appellant. At issue was whether the Town Board acted arbitrarily and capriciously and in violation of law in awarding the public bidding contract to a bidder other than the lowest responsible bidder. The court held that General Municipal Law 103 and Town Law 122 precluded a town, in an open bidding process, from choosing a higher bid merely because it subjectively believed that a higher bid was preferable and more responsible than a lower bidder based on criteria not set forth in the bidding proposal. Accordingly, the order of the Appellate Division should be reversed, with costs, and the matter remitted for further proceedings. View "In the Matter of AAA Carting and Rubbish Removal, Inc. " on Justia Law

Plaintiff, the father of decedent, commenced an action seeking to recover from defendants, decedent's grandparents, for decedent's wrongful death and for her conscious pain and suffering where she accidentally drowned in defendants' pool. At issue was an exclusion in defendants' homeowner's insurance policy excluding coverage for bodily injury to an insured where an insured would receive "any benefit" under the policy. The court held that judgment should have been granted in plaintiff's favor where the exclusion did not operate to bar coverage for the noninsured plaintiff's wrongful death claim for the death of the insured decedent. Accordingly, the court reversed the Appellate Division's judgment and remanded for further proceedings. View "Cragg v. Allstate Indemnity Corp." on Justia Law