The State Environmental Quality Review Act requires that agencies, municipalities, and local boards that have power to approve or fund projects study the potential adverse environmental impacts of a proposal before they approve it. This makes sense. If a project is going to have adverse environmental consequences for a community, the agency approving it should know that …
Continue reading "Court of Appeals Declines to Up the Standards for SEQRA Review"
Let's set the stage. You're walking down the street at night on your way back from work. You're approached by a stranger, about the same age but a different race. He asks you the time, and as you pull out your phone to respond, he snatches it, threatens you with a knife, and runs. The …
You've bought things with a credit card before, right? Me too. Have you ever thought that you might be charged a different price for what you're buying because you're not paying in cash? Me neither, and that seems to be what New York General Business Law § 518 tries to prevent. It provides: No seller in any sales …
Under the Family Law, the State has certain authority to seek to protect children in danger by removing them temporarily from their parents' care. Placing a child in foster care is a heart-wrenching decision that under the law has to be based on what is in the best interests of the child. That decision, however, …
Service of papers saying that you violated a local municipal law implicates important due process concerns. If a property owner doesn't get notice that something at his or her property violates local zoning regulations, he or she won't have an opportunity to contest the violation or try to work out a deal to fix it. …
The New York City Human Rights Law provides strong protections against discrimination in all of its forms. To strengthen those protections, the NYCHRL makes punitive damages available to a prevailing plaintiff. Its text, however, doesn't provide the standard that the courts should apply when determining whether the plaintiff should be awarded punitives. That's a problem. …
The Court of Appeals' November concludes on Thursday, November 16, 2017, with three cases on the argument docket (the Court's case summaries can be found here). First on the calendar is a State Environmental Quality Review Act case, which asks whether the New York State Department of Health took a hard look at the potential …
Continue reading "Court of Appeals November Session: Arguments of Interest for November 16, 2017"
The Court of Appeals' November Session continues at Court of Appeals Hall on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 with four cases on the argument docket (the Court's case summaries can be found here). First up is a certified question from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals involving reinsurance agreements. Particularly, the Court of Appeals will hear …
Continue reading "Court of Appeals November Session: Arguments of Interest for November 15, 2017"
The Court of Appeals returns to Albany for a one-week November Session beginning on Tuesday, November 14, 2017. The Court will hear argument in four cases today. First on the argument calendar are two cases involving questions about how class actions should work in New York. In the first, the Court is asked whether putative …
Continue reading "Court of Appeals November Session: Arguments of Interest for November 14, 2017"
There has been a wealth of information recently on just how few women are getting opportunities to argue before the Supreme Court. Inspired by the fantastic piece done by Adam Feldman of Empirical SCOTUS (and @AdamSFeldman on Twitter) that looked at the dearth of women getting chances to argue before the nation's highest court during …
New York Appeals 