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COURT SHOULD NOT CONSIDER DEFENSES TO AN ACTION ON A MOTION TO DISMISS, WHETHER THE ACTION WOULD SURVIVE A MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IS NOT BEFORE THE COURT.

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined plaintiff stated causes of action for sexual harassment and retaliatory firing. The Second Department noted that Supreme Court erred by relying on defenses to action, which are relevant only to a summary judgment motion, not a motion to dismiss. The Second Department further explained how a motion to dismiss is to be handled when (as here) documentary evidence is submitted in opposition:

The court erred in determining that the subject cause of action must be dismissed because the plaintiff failed to show that the behavior of her supervisor constituted more than a petty slight or trivial inconvenience. The plaintiff does not have this burden. Rather, a contention that the behavior was a petty slight or trivial inconvenience constitutes an affirmative defense … , which should be raised in the defendants’ answer, and does not lend itself to a pre-answer motion to dismiss … . A motion to dismiss merely addresses the adequacy of the pleading, and does not reach the substantive merits of a party’s cause of action. “Therefore, whether the pleading will later survive a motion for summary judgment, or whether the party will ultimately prevail on the claims, is not relevant on a pre-discovery motion to dismiss” … . * * *

“When evidentiary material is considered on a motion to dismiss a complaint pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(7), and the motion has not been converted to one for summary judgment, the criterion is whether the plaintiff has a cause of action, not whether he or she has stated one, and, unless it has been shown that a material fact as claimed by the plaintiff to be one is not a fact at all and unless it can be said that no significant dispute exists regarding it, dismissal should not eventuate” .. .

Kaplan v New York City Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene, 2016 NY Slip Op 06063, 2nd Dept 9-21-16

 

EMPLOYMENT LAW (SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND RETALIATION, COURT SHOULD NOT CONSIDER DEFENSES TO AN ACTION ON A MOTION TO DISMISS, WHETHER THE ACTION WOULD SURVIVE A MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IS NOT BEFORE THE COURT)/CIVIL RIGHTS LAW (EMPLOYMENT LAW, SEXUAL HARASSMENT, SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND RETALIATION, COURT SHOULD NOT CONSIDER DEFENSES TO AN ACTION ON A MOTION TO DISMISS, WHETHER THE ACTION WOULD SURVIVE A MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IS NOT BEFORE THE COURT)/SEXUAL HARASSMENT (EMPLOYMENT LAW, SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND RETALIATION, COURT SHOULD NOT CONSIDER DEFENSES TO AN ACTION ON A MOTION TO DISMISS, WHETHER THE ACTION WOULD SURVIVE A MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IS NOT BEFORE THE COURT)/RETALIATION (EMPLOYMENT LAW, SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND RETALIATION, COURT SHOULD NOT CONSIDER DEFENSES TO AN ACTION ON A MOTION TO DISMISS, WHETHER THE ACTION WOULD SURVIVE A MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IS NOT BEFORE THE COURT)/SEXUAL HARASSMENT EMPLOYMENT LAW, SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND RETALIATION, COURT SHOULD NOT CONSIDER DEFENSES TO AN ACTION ON A MOTION TO DISMISS, WHETHER THE ACTION WOULD SURVIVE A MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IS NOT BEFORE THE COURT)/CIVIL PROCEDURE (MOTION TO DISMISS, COURT SHOULD NOT CONSIDER DEFENSES TO AN ACTION ON A MOTION TO DISMISS, WHETHER THE ACTION WOULD SURVIVE A MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IS NOT BEFORE THE COURT)/DISMISS, MOTION TO (CIVIL, COURT SHOULD NOT CONSIDER DEFENSES TO AN ACTION ON A MOTION TO DISMISS, WHETHER THE ACTION WOULD SURVIVE A MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IS NOT BEFORE THE COURT)SUMMARY JUDGMENT (COURT SHOULD NOT CONSIDER DEFENSES TO AN ACTION ON A MOTION TO DISMISS, WHETHER THE ACTION WOULD SURVIVE A MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IS NOT BEFORE THE COURT)

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