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Entries by Bruce Freeman

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Acceptance of Settlement Offer Not Communicated to Opposing Party or Insurer—No Settlement—Attorney Lost Contingency Fee Based on Settlement Amount.

The fact that the plaintiff signed a general release and hold-harmless agreement was not enough to settle the case.  There was no proof the plaintiff’s attorney communicated plaintiff’s acceptance of the settlement offer to the defendant or defendant’s insurance carrier.  Therefore, plaintiff, with a new attorney, was allowed to go forward with the lawsuit and […]

Father Estopped from Denying Paternity

Before a party can be estopped from denying paternity the court must be convinced applying equitable estoppel is in the best interest of the child.  Here the child was eight years old, knew the respondent as her father, with his encouragement, and relied on respondent to be her father.  Family Court’s finding the respondent was […]

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Late Notice of Claim Allowed.

The Second Department allowed plaintiff to serve a late notice of claim against the defendant School District because: (1) the School District was made aware of the facts constituting the claim within the 90-day statutory period (shown by a medical claim completed by the school principal); (2) there was a reasonable excuse for the delay […]

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Assault in Medical Facility, Spoliation of Evidence.

Plaintiff, a patient at defendant medical center, was assaulted by another patient.  Shortly after the incident plaintiff’s attorney sent a letter to the medical center asking that it preserve all records of the incident, including videotape.  The letter was apparently never forwarded to the defendant’s risk management department and any videotape of the incident was […]

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Medical Malpractice Against Hospital, No Need to Name Individual Doctors.

In a medical malpractice action, where the plaintiff has a respondeat superior claim against a hospital based on the actions of nonparty physicians, the failure to name the individual doctors upon whom the claim is based within the applicable statute of limitations period does not compel dismissal of the vicarious liability claim against the hospital.  […]

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Primary Assumption of Risk Jury Charge Required Reversal.

The Second Department reversed the trial court’s dismissal of a personal injury complaint after a “no cause” verdict.  The plaintiff’s daughter was a 14-year-old pitcher on a school softball team.  During practice, she was instructed to pitch from a position closer to the plate than the pitching mound.  A so-called “L-screen,” a protective pitching screen, […]

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Post-Conviction Review of Redacted Portions of Officer’s Notes Ordered.

After conviction, the inference that redacted portions of the arresting officer’s memo book constituted Rosario material warranted an in camera review of the memo book to determine whether the deleted portions constituted Rosario material and whether the nondisclosure prejudiced the defendant.  People v Perry 8933 Ind. 1054/09 First Dept. 1-3-13  

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Waiver of Appeal Invalid, Sentence Excessive.

Defendant’s right to appeal was not knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently waived—it was not established that defendant was aware the right to appeal is separate and distinct from those rights automatically forfeited upon a plea of guilty.  Defendant’s sentence was deemed excessive.  The sentence was reduced in the interest of justice in light of defendant’s age, […]

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Pat-Down Search Justified by the Objective Existence of Probable Cause to Arrest, Even Though the Officer Did Not Intend to Arrest at the Time of the Search.

In a full-fledged opinion by Justice Saxe, the First Department determined that a pat-down search was justified because probable cause for arrest existed (for DWI) even though the officer did not intend to arrest the defendant, whom he had just directed to step out of his car, at the time of the search.  The Court […]

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