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ACCOUNTING CAUSE OF ACTION IN THIS SHAREHOLDERS’ DERIVATIVE SUIT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DISMISSED; ALTHOUGH SUA SPONTE ORDERS ARE NOT APPEALABLE, THE APPEAL WAS HEARD IN THE INTEREST OF JUSTICE; PROPER WAY TO HANDLE A SUA SPONTE ORDER IS TO MOVE TO VACATE AND THEN APPEAL (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court in this shareholders’ derivative action against a low-income Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC), determined: (1) although a sua sponte order is not appealable, the appeal of the dismissal of the cause of action for an accounting is heard in the interest of justice; (2) the proper way to handle a sua sponte order is to move to vacate it and then appeal; (3) there was no need to amend the complaint because the accounting cause of action included the right to damages for wrongdoing (here the alleged failure to account for the sale of an apartment for $90,000):

An order issued sua sponte is not appealable as of right (see CPLR 5701[a][2] …). Plaintiffs’ remedy is to move to vacate the court’s order, and, if the motion is denied, appeal from that order (CPLR 5701[a][3] …). …

… [W]e find that Supreme Court erred in dismissing the complaint because the cause of action for an equitable accounting was not moot. Supreme Court conflated the first cause of action for the inspection of the HDFC’s books and records with the second cause of action for an equitable accounting … . Defendants failed to demonstrate what happened to the $90,000 from the sale of Apartment 6A, and the funds do not appear in the HDFC’s financials. Defendants’ affidavits did not address this glaring deficiency.

… An equitable accounting involves a remedy “designed to require a person in possession of financial records to produce them, demonstrate how money was expended and return pilfered funds in his or her possession” … . Available relief includes a personal judgment against the wrongdoer … . Hall v Louis, 2020 NY Slip Op 03268, First Dept 6-11-20

 

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NO APPEAL LIES FROM DECLINING TO SIGN AN ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department noted that no appeal lies from declining to sign an order to show cause:

No appeal lies from an order declining to sign an order to show cause, since it is an ex parte order that does not decide a motion made on notice (CPLR 5701[a][2] … ). To the extent defendant seeks review of the ex parte order pursuant to CPLR 5704, such relief is denied. Review under CPLR 5704 would not, in any event, address the merits of the motion defendant sought to make by order to show cause … .

To the extent defendant contends that we should review the order or grant leave to appeal in the interest of justice, we decline to do so. Chi Young Lee v Osorio, 2020 NY Slip Op 03186, First Dept 6-4-20

 

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FAMILY COURT SHOULD HAVE MADE FINDINGS ENABLING THE CHILD TO PETITION FOR SPECIAL IMMIGRANT JUVENILE STATUS (SIJS) (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Family Court, determined Family Court should have made findings enabling the child to petition for special immigrant juvenile status (SIJS):

The evidence establishes that the child was unmarried and under the age of 21 at the time of the special findings hearing and order (see 8 CFR 204.11[c]). The Family Court’s appointment of a guardian (petitioner) rendered the child dependent on a juvenile court … .

The evidence that the child had had no contact with his parents, and received no support from them, since at least September 2014 established that reunification with the parents was not viable due to neglect or abandonment ….  The parents’ consent to the appointment of a guardian and waiver of service also demonstrate an intent to relinquish their parental rights.

In determining whether reunification was viable, the Family Court should not have refused to consider evidence of circumstances that occurred after the child’s 18th, but before his 21st, birthday … .

The record demonstrates that it is not in the best interests of the child to return to Albania … . The evidence shows that the child suffered political persecution in Albania that his parents were unable to prevent … , that he had had no recent contact with his parents and was not sure if they would accept him if he returned … , and that he was doing well in petitioner’s care … . Matter of Lavdie H. v Saimira V., 2020 NY Slip Op 03177, First Dept 6-4-20

 

UNSUPPORTED CEILING COLLAPSED DURING DEMOLITION; PLAINTIFF PROPERLY GRANTED SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON HIS LABOR LAW 240(1) CAUSE OF ACTION (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department determined plaintiff’s summary judgment motion on his Labor Law 240 (1) cause of action was properly granted where an unsupported ceiling collapsed during demolition:

Supreme Court properly granted plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on his Labor Law § 240(1) claim arising from the collapse of a ceiling that was not braced or shored during demolition operations. Regardless of whether the entire ceiling or only a portion of it collapsed, it was not the intended target of demolition at the time of the accident … . At the time of the accident, upon his supervisor’s instruction, plaintiff had descended from the ladder upon which he was working and walked under the ceiling that collapsed in order to inspect or remove a sprinkler head. Plaintiff’s supervisor acknowledged the ceiling would not have collapsed on plaintiff had he remained on the ladder. Moreover, because no safety devices were provided to brace or shore the ceiling, the fact that plaintiff may have pulled on it with a hook while inspecting or attempting to remove the sprinkler head at most amounts to comparative negligence, which is not a defense to a Labor Law § 240(1) claim … . Sinchi v HWA 1290 III LLC, 2020 NY Slip Op 03176, First Dept 6-4-20

 

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RARE CASE WHERE PLAINTIFF’S SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION ON LABOR LAW 200 AND COMMON-LAW NEGLIGENCE CAUSES OF ACTION WAS APPROPRIATELY GRANTED (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department determined this was a rare case where summary judgment was appropriate on a Labor Law 200, common-law negligence cause of action:

Here, PSJV, the entities responsible for site cleanliness and trade coordination, at a time when the project was open to the elements, covered a recessed area of the third floor, where rainwater regularly collected, with non-waterproof planking, and never inspected it for water accumulation. Further, PSJV did not warn plaintiff or his employer that he was working under the recessed area, and when he drilled into the second floor ceiling to affix electrical equipment, the sludgy, oily water poured down onto him, causing him to lose his balance and injure himself. Thus, plaintiffs made a prima showing that the accident occurred due to a defective condition on the premises of which PSJV had actual notice, having caused and created it … . In response, PSJV failed to adduce credible evidence that anyone else, including plaintiff electrician, negligently caused the accident … . Langer v MTA Capital Constr. Co., 2020 NY Slip Op 03171, First Dept 6-3-20

 

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COMPLAINT IN PUTATIVE CLASS ACTION ALLEGING DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PERSONS WHO CANNOT USE STAIRS PROPERLY SURVIVED MOTIONS TO DISMISS; 360 OF 427 NYC SUBWAY STATIONS ARE ACCESSIBLE ONLY BY STAIRS (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Gische, determined that the transit authority’s and the city’s motions to dismsiss the complaint in this putative class action were properly denied. The complaint, brought pursuant to the NYC Human Rights Law (NYCHRL), alleged discrimination against persons with disabilities which prevent them from using stairs. 360 of the 427 subway stations in NYC are accessible only by stairs. The First Department held: (1) the action was not time-barred because the continuous violation doctrine applied; (2) the action was not preempted by either Transportation Law 15-b or Public Authorities Law 1266 (8); (3) the controversy is justiciable; and (4) the city, which owns the stations, was not entitled to pre-discovery dismissal. With respect to the continuous violation doctrine, the court wrote:

… [T]he reach of the continuous violation doctrine under NYCHRL is broader than under either federal or state law. A broad interpretation is consistent with a “rule that neither penalizes workers who hesitate to bring an action at the first sign of what they suspect could be discriminatory trouble, nor rewards covered entities that discriminate by insulating them[selves] from challenges to their unlawful conduct that continues into the limitation period” … . Thus, defendants’ claimed failure to provide an accessible subway system is a continuous wrong for purposes of tolling the statute of limitations under the NYCHRL Center for Independence of the Disabled v Metropolitan Transp. Auth., 2020 NY Slip Op 03203, First Dept 6-4-20

 

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CROSS-EXAMINATION OF A POLICE OFFICER ABOUT MISCONDUCT IN A CIVIL SUIT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED; CONVICTION REVERSED (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing defendant’s conviction, determined cross-examination of a police officer about misconduct in a civil suit should have been allowed:

The trial court erred in denying defendant’s request to cross-examine a police Sergeant regarding allegations of misconduct in a civil lawsuit in which it was claimed that this police Sergeant and a police detective arrested the plaintiff without suspicion of criminality and lodged false charges against him … . The civil complaint contained allegations of falsification specific to this officer (and another officer), which bore on his credibility at the trial.

Contrary to the People’s allegations, the error was not harmless. The police sergeant’s credibility was critical because he was the only eyewitness to the crime … . Although the sergeant’s testimony was corroborated by other evidence, none of this corroborating evidence was sufficient, on its own, to prove defendant’s guilt, as all of it relied on the sergeant’s testimony for context. ​People v Conner, 2020 NY Slip Op 03200, First Dept 6-4-20

 

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HUMAN RESOURCES ADMINISTRATION SECURITY DEPOSIT VOUCHERS MUST BE ACCEPTED IN LIEU OF CASH DEPOSITS; TO REFUSE TO ACCEPT THE VOUCHERS VIOLATES THE NYC HUMAN RIGHTS LAW; THE VOUCHER PROGRAM DOES NOT VIOLATE THE SOCIAL SERVICES LAW OR THE URSTADT LAW (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Webber, determined plaintiff Estates, a leasing agent for multi-family apartment buildings in New York City, must accept a Human Resources Administration (HRA) security deposit voucher for an apartment. When the potential tenant, Walters, applied for an apartment, plaintiff’s employee told her the security deposit must be cash:

We find that the court correctly concluded that HRA’s security deposit vouchers are a “lawful source of income” under the City HRL [Human Rights Law] (Administrative Code § 8-102) and are therefore included in the HRL’s prohibition against discrimination by a landlord against a prospective tenant because of “any lawful source of income” (Administrative Code § 8-107[5][a][1]). “The term lawful source of income’ includes income derived from social security, or any form of federal, state or local public assistance or housing assistance including section 8 vouchers” … .

Administrative Code § 8-107(5) prohibits a landlord from refusing to accept a Section 8 voucher from an existing tenant or refusing a lease to a prospective tenant who seeks to pay rent with a Section 8 voucher … . …

Supreme Court correctly found that HRA’s security deposit voucher program does not violate Social Services Law § 143-c. * * *

Finally, we find that the voucher program does not violate the Urstadt Law (McKinney’s Uncons Laws of NY § 8605). “The Urstadt Law was intended to check City attempts, whether by local law or regulation, to expand the set of buildings subject to rent control or stabilization'” … . Here, a landlord’s acceptance of such security deposit vouchers “will have no impact in expanding the buildings subject to the rent stabilization law or expanding regulation under the rent laws” … . Estates NY Real Estate Servs. LLC v City of New York, 2020 NY Slip Op 03093, First Dept 5-28-20

 

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THE EXISTENCE OF A HANDRAIL ON THE LEFT OF THE STAIRS DID NOT WARRANT GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT TO DEFENDANTS IN THIS SLIP AND FALL CASE WHERE THERE WAS NO HANDRAIL ON THE RIGHT (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendants’ motion for summary judgment in this stairway slip and fall case should not have been granted. The fact that there was a handrail on the left did not warrant summary judgment because there was no handrail on the right:

Plaintiff … was injured when, while descending the right side of the exterior staircase of the subject premises, she slipped and when she tried to grab onto a handrail, there was no right-sided handrail. A triable issue of fact thus exists as to whether the absence of a required handrail on that side of the staircase was a proximate cause of the accident … . Defendants’ argument that the missing handrail on the right side of the staircase did not proximately cause plaintiff’s fall since she chose not to use the available left-side handrail, is directed to the issue of comparative negligence … . Gil v Margis Realty LLC, 2020 NY Slip Op 03089, First Dept 5-28-20

 

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MISNOMER DID NOT PREJUDICE THE CITY; CITY’S MOTION TO DISMISS SHOULD HAVE BEEN DENIED AND PLAINTIFF’S CROSS MOTION TO AMEND THE SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the mis-description of the defendant in the summons and complaint did not prejudice the city, which was notice of the plaintiff’s suit:

The summons and complaint were served on Corporation Counsel for the City of New York, which answered on behalf of the City of New York. Defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint should have been denied and plaintiff’s cross motion to amend the summons and complaint to correct the misnomer granted. The City was not prejudiced by the mis-description and was on notice that plaintiff intended to seek a judgment against it (see CPLR 305[c] … ). Rivera v New York City Dept. of Sanitation, 2020 NY Slip Op 03085, First Dept 5-28-20

 

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