The Court of Appeals recently held that the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act does not preempt local legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to clean energy in order to combat climate change. Rather, the Court held, the Climate Act’s aspirational language provides room for localities, here New York City, to adopt …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 5.23.25: Can an Appellate Reversal of a Judgment of Foreclosure Restore Title to the Foreclosed Property If It Is Sold While the Appeal is Pending?
The Second Department recently held that in a foreclosure action, if a property owner does not obtain a stay of the judgment of foreclosure pending appeal, and the property is sold to a third party for value while the appeal is pending, the property owner cannot get their property back even if the Appellate Division …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 5.16.24: Can an Election Nominee Who Declined a Nomination Fill Their Own Vacancy on the Ballot?
A panel of the Second Department recently, in dicta, took a different view of the Election Law concerning whether a political nominee who declines a nomination can thereafter be designated to fill that same vacancy. Although the First Department in 1934 held that the same person who originally declined the nomination was barred from being …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 5.9.25: Is the Even Year Election Law Constitutional?
The Even Year Election Law, which provides that elections for most county, town, and village officials will be held on even-numbered years, and will no longer be held on odd-numbered years, does not violate the New York Constitution’s home rule provisions. In fact, the Fourth Department held, nothing in Article IX, § 2 of the New …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 5.2.25: Can Seeking to Enforce the Terms of a Trust in Court Lead to a Disinheritance Under an In Terrorem Clause?
For those of us who don’t regularly practice in Trusts and Estates, the latin words in terrorem produce fear and anxiety. As Trusts and Estates practitioners know, however, in terrorem clauses in wills and trusts can often be used to protect a decedent’s or grantor’s intent that no one challenge their plan for their assets. …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 4.25.25: Court of Appeals Clarifies Limits on Assumption of the Risk Doctrine
The Court of Appeals recently used two personal injury cases to clarify two important limitations on the primary assumption of the risk doctrine. First, the Court held that the doctrine does not apply when a plaintiff can show that the risks of sports have been unreasonably enhanced by the particular activity or by a course …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 4.18.25: Does the Office of Children and Family Services Have Authority to Create a Voluntary Program for Supplemental Parental Care?
Does the Office of Children and Family Services have the authority to create a voluntary program under which parents in need of assistance with their children can designate other adults to stand in their shoes, while still maintaining the right to terminate that designation at any time? A majority of the Third Department held recently …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 4.11.25: When Does a University Owe a Duty to Protect a Student From Harm By Another Student?
The Third Department recently confronted a case where a state university knew, through its provision of mental health services, that a student intended to harm another student and had in place a threat assessment policy that required its counselors to refer those matters to the administration for further investigation. In that circumstance, the Court held, …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 4.4.25: May a Cotenant Adversely Possess Property That They Don’t Know is Jointly Owned?
When you own property in which someone else also holds a cotenancy interest in, but you don’t know that they have an interest, can you take title to the property exclusively by adverse possession? The Court of Appeals recently addressed that strange question, holding that being unaware of the cotenancy does not prevent you from …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 3.28.25: When Can Unionized Public Employees Sue Their Employers in Court for Breach of a Collective BArgaining Agreement?
When may unionized public employees sue their employers for breach of rights granted exclusively in a collective bargaining agreement? The Court of Appeals addressed that issue recently, reaffirming that to bring such a claim in court, the employee has to bring a plenary action against not only the employer for breach of contract, but also …
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