Justia New York Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of murder in the first degree and related crimes. Defendant appealed, arguing that the trial court erred in precluding him from presenting third-party culpability evidence. The Appellate Division affirmed. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding (1) the standard set forth in People v. Primo that third-party culpability evidence should be evaluated in accordance with ordinary evidentiary principles does not infringe upon a defendant’s constitutional right to present a complete defense; and (2) applying the Primo standard in this case, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by precluding Defendant’s “ill-defined and speculative” third-party culpability evidence. View "People v. Powell" on Justia Law

Defendant was charged with the shootings of Mark Maldanado and Leo Walton. The jury found Defendant guilty of murder in the second degree for Walton’s death and assault in the first degree for the shooting of Maldanado. At issue on appeal was whether the trial court committed reversible error by failing to take action when defense counsel objected to T-shirts worn by certain spectators that bore a photograph of Walton. The Appellate Division affirmed. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding (1) the trial court erred in failing to instruct the spectators to remove the shirts or cover them upon defense counsel’s objection; but (2) the trial court’s error was harmless under the particular circumstances of this case. View "People v. Nelson" on Justia Law

After achieving tenure at Food and Finance High School, Petitioner voluntarily resigned from his teaching position. Petitioner was later hired as a teacher at Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual arts. Petitioner received a rating of “unsatisfactory” for the school year and, consequently, was terminated. Petitioner brought this N.Y. C.P.L.R. 78 proceeding arguing that he was a tenured teacher upon his reappointment, and therefore, his termination without just cause and without following the procedures in N.Y. Educ. Law 3020-a was unlawful, arbitrary and capricious, or an abuse of discretion. Supreme Court denied the petition and dismissed the proceeding for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The Appellate Division affirmed on a different ground, holding that when Petitioner was rehired, his tenure was not ipso facto restored. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding (1) a tenured teacher who resigns, and who later seeks to return as a tenured teacher must strictly comply with paragraph 29 of New York City Board of Education Chancellor’s Regulation C-205 (C-205(29)) and submit a written request to withdraw his prior resignation; and (2) absent a request to withdraw his resignation, Petitioner failed to meet the requirements of C-205(29) for reinstatement with tenure. View "Springer v. Board of Education" on Justia Law

Defendant was arrested on robbery charges and remanded to Rikers Island Correctional Facility. Following procedures laid out in an Operations Order and through the use of a subpoena duces tecum, the People acquired from the New York City Department of Correction dozens of recordings of telephone conversations that Defendant placed to his friends and family. The People used excerpts from those telephone calls at Defendant’s criminal trial. The jury convicted Defendant of two counts of third degree robbery and one count of possession of stolen property. Defendant appealed, challenging the admission of the recordings. The Appellate Division summarily affirmed. Defendant appealed, arguing that the Department’s practice of monitoring the intimate conversations of pre-trial detainees violated his right to counsel, exceeds the scope of the Department’s regulatory authority, and was conducted without Defendant’s consent. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that Defendant’s claims were either without merit or unpreserved and, therefore, did not warrant a new trial. View "People v. Johnson" on Justia Law

Defendant pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree. At sentencing, Supreme Court noted that Defendant had failed to abide by the conditions of his plea agreement when he committed a marijuana offense after the plea proceeding and sentenced Defendant to an enhanced sentence of six years in prison. Defendant appealed, challenging the validity of his guilty plea. The Appellate Division reversed and vacated Defendant’s guilty plea, concluding (1) Supreme Court’s alleged error in inducing Defendant’s guilty plea with the promise of an unlawful sentence constituted a due process violation that presented a question of law for appellate review despite the absence of proper preservation, and (2) the lower court’s error affected the voluntariness of Defendant’s plea. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that Defendant had a reasonable opportunity to attack the legality of his guilty plea prior to the final imposition of his sentence and because he failed to object to the plea in the court of first instance, his challenge to the propriety of his guilty plea was not preserved for appellate review. View "People v. Williams" on Justia Law

In 1982, New York City adopted lead abatement legislation that imposes a duty on landlords to remove lead-based pain in any dwelling in which a child aged six years old or younger “resides.” Plaintiff commenced this action individually and on behalf of her daughter, alleging that because her daughter “spent a significant amount of time” in her grandmother’s apartment, Defendants owed her a duty to abate the apartment of hazardous lead conditions and that their failure to do so caused her daughter’s injuries. Supreme Court dismissed the complaint. The Appellate Division affirmed, concluding that Plaintiffs failed to raise an issue of fact as to the child’s residence. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the child did not “reside” in her grandmother’s apartment because the child did not live in the apartment but spent approximately fifty hours per week there with a caregiver. View "Yaniveth R. v. LTD Realty Co." on Justia Law

In 2013, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) announced the adoption of a regulation prohibiting smoking in each state park located in New York City, as well as other designated areas under the jurisdiction of OPRHP. NYC C.L.A.S.H., Inc. (CLASH), a nonprofit organization dedicating to protecting the interests of smokers, commenced this hybrid N.Y. C.P.L.R. 78 proceeding and declaratory judgment action challenging the rule as unconstitutional and in violation of the separation of powers doctrine. Supreme Court granted the petition, concluding that the rule violated the separation of powers doctrine. The Appellate Division reversed. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that OPRHP and its commissioner acted within the confines of OPRHP's legislatively delegated power and did not usurp the authority of the legislature by promulgating the regulation at issue. View "NYC C.L.A.S.H., Inc. v. State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Pres." on Justia Law

While the decedent in this case was being treated in the emergency room of The New York and Presbyterian Hospital (Hospital), employees of ABC News, a division of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. (ABC), filmed the decedent’s medical treatment and death without consent. ABC later broadcast a portion of the footage as part of a documentary series about medical trauma. Plaintiffs, the decedent’s family, commenced this action against ABC, the Hospital, and the decedent’s treating physician, alleging breach of physician-patient confidentiality and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint. Supreme Court partially granted the motions. The Appellate Division modified Supreme Court’s order by reversing the portions of the order that were appealed, granted the motions in their entirety, and dismissed the entire complaint. The Court of Appeals modified the Appellate Division order to reinstate the cause of action against the Hospital and treating physician for breach of physician-patient confidentiality, holding (1) Plaintiffs stated a cause of action against these defendants for breach of physician-patient confidentiality; but (2) Defendants’ conduct was not so atrocious and intolerable as to support a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress. View "Chanko v. American Broadcasting Cos." on Justia Law

Ranco Sand and Stone Corporation, the owner of two parcels of contiguous property in an area zoned for residential use, applied to rezone one parcel to heavy industrial use. The Town of Smithtown’s Planning Board, acting as the lead agency under State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), adopted a resolution issuing a positive declaration that rezoning the parcel may have a significant effect on the environment and required Ranco to prepare a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). Ranco commenced this N.Y. C.P.L.R. 78 proceeding against the Town and the members of the Town Board, seeking to annul the positive declaration and requesting mandamus relief directing the Town to process the rezoning application without a DEIS. Supreme Court dismissed the petition, finding the matter not ripe for judicial review. The Appellate Division affirmed, concluding that the SEQRA positive declaration was the initial step in the decision-making process and did not give rise to a justiciable controversy. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the Town’s SEQRA positive determination was not ripe for judicial review. View "Ranco Sand & Stone Corp. v. Vecchio" on Justia Law

Defendant was charged with murder. Defendant filed a motion to suppress his initial statement made to a police detective, as well as a statement he made after a forty-five-minute break, on the grounds that the detective failed to issue a complete set of Miranda warnings at the outset of the interview. The hearing court granted the motion to suppress. The Appellate Division reversed and denied the suppression motion, concluding that Defendant’s second statement had been attenuated from the first. After a trial, the jury returned a verdict convicting Defendant of murder in the second degree. Defendant moved to vacate the judgment, alleging that defense counsel had provided ineffective assistance by failing to move to reopen the suppression hearing based on the detective’s trial account of the statement made by Defendant prior to the issuance of the Miranda warnings. Supreme Court denied Defendant’s post-judgment motion without a hearing. The Appellate Division affirmed. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that counsel had a reasonable trial strategy, and therefore, Defendant was not entitled to relief on his ineffective assistance claim. View "People v. Gray" on Justia Law