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SEX TRAFFICKING CONVICTION AGAINST THE WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing the sex trafficking conviction, determined there was insufficient evidence defendant used force or participated in a scheme to compel the alleged victim to engage in prostitution by threat of physical harm. The sex trafficking conviction was deemed to be against the weight of the evidence:

The evidence showed that the alleged victim, her mother, and a third woman, sought to earn more money than they were earning in Florida, that they voluntarily traveled with defendant to New York to earn money as prostitutes, and that defendant left them alone at times in Florida and New York. There was no evidence presented at trial that defendant ever threatened to harm the alleged victim if she failed to begin or continue working as a prostitute. A detective described a call he overheard between defendant and the alleged victim, after she was apprehended, in which defendant was angry because he believed that she did not get money from a client. However, this does not suffice to prove any use of force or a “scheme” to compel her to work as a prostitute. Similarly, although the third woman in the group that came with defendant from Florida testified that she was a “little intimidated” by an argument over money between defendant and another man, this does not establish the required threat of harm, even assuming the alleged victim also saw and heard the argument. People v Hayes, 2020 NY Slip Op 00832, First Dept 2-4-20

 

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BY NOT SEEKING THE FULL AMOUNT OF THE DEBT IN THE 90-DAY NOTICE PLAINTIFF MAY HAVE DE-ACCELERATED THE DEBT MAKING THE FORECLOSURE ACTION TIMELY (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined plaintiff, by demonstrating it did not demand the full debt, but rather demanded only the amount needed to cure the default, presented sufficient proof that the debt had not been accelerated, and therefore the action was timely, to warrant restoring the matter to the calendar. The action had been dismissed when plaintiff did not appear at a scheduled conference. Defendant had moved to dismiss alleging the debt had been accelerated and the action was time-barred:

Plaintiff … moved, pursuant to CPLR 5015(a)(1), to vacate the dismissal order and reinstate the claim. * * *

… [P]laintiff provided evidence that it took affirmative action to de-accelerate the mortgage, which would have stopped the running of the statute of limitations on the mortgage debt. The 90-day notice provided to defendant sought an amount lower than the accelerated amount, which may evidence an intent to de-accelerate. While seeking a lower amount in and of itself is not enough to establish, as a matter of law, that the 90-day notice “destroy[ed] the effect of the sworn statement that the plaintiff had elected to accelerate the maturity of the debt” … . it is sufficient to meet the “minimal showing” required on a motion to restore … . Federal Natl. Mtge. Assn. v Rosenberg, 2020 NY Slip Op 00814, First Dept 2-4-20

 

QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER INSTALLING CONDENSERS WAS ‘ALTERATION’ WITHIN THE MEANING OF LABOR LAW 241(6); DEFENDANTS’ SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined plaintiff was engaged in construction (alteration) at the time of his injury. His Labor Law 241(6) cause of action, therefore, should not have been dismissed:

Plaintiff alleges that he was injured while installing a refrigeration condenser unit at premises owned by Boss and leased by Antillana. We find that the motion court improperly granted defendants’ motions for summary judgment dismissing the Labor Law § 241(6) claim. Plaintiff was engaged in an activity within the purview of Labor Law § 241(6). Plaintiff worked at the subject premises during the build-out installing three refrigeration system condensers, which weighed about 3000 pounds and had to be moved with a forklift. Three weeks after the store was opened, plaintiff was asked to install an additional condenser which weighed about 200 pounds. The president of Antillana acknowledged that there had been a renovation project underway at the premises before plaintiff’s accident.

We find that there is an issue of fact whether the subsequent installation of the condenser constituted an “alteration” of the premises, which falls within the ambit of “construction” work under Labor Law § 241(6) … . Rodriguez v Antillana & Metro Supermarket Corp., 2020 NY Slip Op 00669, First Dept 1-30-20

 

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TRIAL COURT’S DECLARING A MISTRIAL VIOLATED THE PARTIES’ STIPULATION PURSUANT TO THE SUMMARY JURY TRIAL RULES (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the trial should not have, sua sponte, declared a mistrial in this summary jury trial (SJT) in an attempt to correct an evidentiary error. The mistrial violated the parties’ STJ stipulation which constitutes a binding contract:

The SJT rules to which the parties stipulated provide, among other things, that “[p]arties agree to waive any motions for directed verdicts as well as any motions to set aside the verdict or any judgment rendered by said jury” and that the “Court shall not set side any verdict or any judgment entered thereon, nor shall it direct that judgment be entered in favor [of] a party entitled to judgment as a matter of law, nor shall it order a new trial as to any issues where the verdict is alleged to be contrary to the weight of the evidence” … .

The court erred in sua sponte declaring a mistrial and setting aside the verdict. While this was an attempt to correct an admittedly erroneous evidentiary ruling, the parties’ stipulation to a summary jury trial, subject to the applicable rules and procedures for Bronx County, was a legally binding contract … . Since the summary jury trial rules for Bronx County do not provide for any means to correct errors of law committed during trial, the court exceeded the boundaries of the parties’ agreement by setting aside the verdict, regardless of whether it in fact did so on its own initiative in the interest of justice … .

… [T]his holding does not proscribe post-trial motions of any kind in connection with summary jury trials; rather, it abides by the parties’ own proscriptions made at the time that they stipulated to proceed with a summary jury trial. There was nothing barring the parties from stipulating to reserve their right to appeal or move to set aside the verdict on the ground of an error of law. Vargas v LaMacchia, 2020 NY Slip Op 00556, First Dept 1-28-2o

 

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QUESTIONS OF FACT WHETHER THE ASSAILANT WAS AN INTRUDER AND WHETHER THE LANDLORD HAD NOTICE OF THE DEFECTIVE DOOR LOCK IN THIS THIRD-PARTY ASSAULT CASE; LANDLORD’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendant NYC Housing Authority’s (NYCHA’s) motion for summary judgment in this third-party assault case should not have been granted. Plaintiff raised questions of fact whether the assailant was an intruder and whether the NYCHA had notice of the defective entrance door to the apartment building:

NYCHA failed to eliminate an issue of fact as to whether it was ” more likely or more reasonable than not'” that the man who shot plaintiff in the leg in front of his apartment door was an intruder ” who gained access to the premises through a negligently maintained entrance'” … . Plaintiff testified that a man spoke to him on the sidewalk just outside the building, asking where he could find drugs, and that, after plaintiff entered through the unlocked front entrance and walked up the stairs to his floor and along the hall 10 feet to his apartment, he saw the man again when he heard the door to the stairwell open, and the man held him up at gunpoint.

From plaintiff’s familiarity with building residents, the history of ongoing criminal activity, and the assailant’s failure to conceal his or her identity a jury could reasonably infer “that the assailant was more likely than not an intruder” … . Plaintiff informed the police that he could identify the assailant if shown a photograph … . NYCHA’s evidence also showed that there was a robbery inside the building about 18 months before plaintiff’s incident, requiring repairs to the front door lock, and various shootings on the grounds … .

Contrary to NYCHA’s contention, there is enough evidence as to how the assailant gained entry to the building to require consideration of whether NYCHA had actual or constructive notice of the nonfunctioning door lock … . A jury could infer from plaintiff’s testimony that the assailant entered the building himself and did not need to wait for anyone in the lobby to open the door for him.

Nor does its evidence demonstrate that NYCHA did not have constructive notice of the nonfunctioning door lock, since plaintiff testified that the lock was not functioning the day before and the day of the incident, but the last daily maintenance checklist produced by NYCHA, which included the front door lock, was dated two days before the incident … . Clotter v New York City Hous. Auth., 2020 NY Slip Op 00554, First Dept 1-28-20

 

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BUILDING OWNER NOT LIABLE FOR ALLEGED FAILURE TO ENSURE A SMOKE DETECTOR WAS FUNCTIONAL, DESPITE THE ALLEGATION THE OWNER REGULARLY INSPECTED THE SMOKE DETECTORS (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department determined the defendant landlord could not be held liable for the failure to ensure a smoke detector was functional:

In this action where plaintiff alleges that he was injured as a result of a fire in his apartment due to defendant building owner’s negligent failure to provide an operable smoke detector, defendant demonstrated prima facie that he satisfied his statutory duty to provide a functional smoke detector in the apartment, and accordingly, the obligation to maintain the smoke detector was assumed by plaintiff (see Administrative Code of City of NY § 27-2045[a][1], [b][1], [2]).

Plaintiff’s argument that defendant voluntarily assumed a duty to ensure his smoke detector was in good working condition by regularly inspecting tenants’ smoke detectors, is unavailing. “Liability under this theory may be imposed only if defendant’s conduct placed plaintiff in a more vulnerable position than he would have been in had defendant done nothing” … . Here, however, plaintiff provided no evidence that he relied on defendant’s inspection of his smoke detector to ensure its functionality, and instead testified that he never saw the building superintendent inspect his smoke detector. Figueroa v Parkash, 2020 NY Slip Op 00525, First Dept 1-28-20

 

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TRIAL JUDGE SHOULD NOT HAVE, SUA SPONTE, DECLARED A MISTRIAL TO ACCOMMODATE A JUROR’S WEEKEND PLANS; WRIT OF PROHIBITION GRANTED; RETRIAL BARRED; INDICTMENT DISMISSED (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, granting petitioner’s application for a writ of prohibition and dismissing the indictment, determined the trial court should not have, sua sponte, declared a mistrial to accommodate a juror’s weekend travel plans. Retrial was barred:

The trial court was not compelled by manifest necessity to declare a mistrial and terminate the proceedings …, and accordingly, retrial is barred under the Double Jeopardy Clauses of the Federal and New York State Constitutions … . It was an abuse of discretion to declare a mistrial in order to accommodate a juror’s weekend travel plans, including a Friday, which she belatedly informed the court about during deliberations, where the court, as requested by defendant, reasonably could have directed the juror to report for deliberations the following day, and the court also failed to confirm that the jury was hopelessly deadlocked at the time … . Matter of Bannister v Wiley, 2020 NY Slip Op 00522, First Dept 1-28-20

 

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THE INTERIM DECISION ISSUED BY SUPREME COURT WAS NOT THE EQUIVALENT OF AN ORDER; THE FIRST DEPARTMENT, THEREFORE, DISMISSED THE APPEAL FOR LACK OF JURISDICTION (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, dismissing the appeal in this Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) case, determined the “interim decision” was not an appealable paper, depriving the First Department of jurisdiction:

This proceeding stems from Spectrum News NY1’s (Spectrum) attempts to gain access to video files from the voluntary body camera experiment. Specifically, Spectrum filed a FOIL request for unredacted videos from the NYPD’s voluntary body camera program begun in 2014. NYPD denied the request, claiming that unredacted files were exempt from disclosure under FOIL. Spectrum then commenced this article 78 proceeding seeking a judgment compelling respondent NYPD to comply with its request. …

… [T]he parties stipulated that out of a disputed 328 videos, only 30 would be the subject of the hearing. Supreme Court then issued “an interim decision,” which was not the product of a motion for relief. Instead, the “interim decision,” among other things, permitted respondents to redact the faces of persons other than officers from any video footage recorded by the body cameras and to redact certain communications between officers … . …Supreme Court granted petitioner leave to appeal from the “interim decision.”

This appeal is thus taken from an “interim decision,” which is not an appealable paper. The lack of an appealable paper here deprives the Court of jurisdiction and requires dismissal of Spectrum’s appeal, albeit without prejudice. Where, as here, a party brings an appeal from a nonappealable paper, this Court regularly dismisses the appeal for lack of jurisdiction … . While there are instances where this Court has deemed a paper denominated as a “decision” to nonetheless be appealable because it contained all the hallmarks of an order … , that is not the situation here. Matter of Spectrum News NY1 v New York City Police Dept., 2020 NY Slip Op 00521, First Dept 1-28-20

 

DEFAMATION ACTION BASED UPON A REPORTER’S NAMING THE WRONG TEACHER AS HAVING BULLIED A FIFTH-GRADER PROPERLY DISMISSED; THE REPORTER HAD SUFFICIENT REASON TO RELY ON THE STUDENT’S MOTHER AND ANOTHER SOURCE BOTH OF WHOM PROVIDED THE WRONG NAME (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department determined defendant WPIX was not liable for an article about the bullying of a fifth-grader by a teacher. The teacher allegedly involved in the bullying had the last name “Rainbow,” but plaintiff, Starlight Rainbow, also a teacher, had no involvement with the student. The article misidentified the involved teacher as Starlight Rainbow. The First Department explained the standard of proof and found that the WPIX reporter had sufficient reason to rely on the wrong name provided by the student’s mother and another source. The court further found that there was no duty to retract the story:

The parties … agree that the article concerned a matter of public concern, and that plaintiff is not a public figure. Thus, to prevail on a defamation claim, plaintiff must show, by a preponderance of the evidence, that WPIX was “grossly irresponsible” in publishing the article on its website, in that it acted “without due consideration for the standards of information gathering and dissemination ordinarily followed by responsible parties” (Chapadeau v Utica Observer-Dispatch, 38 NY2d 196, 199 [1975]). The gross irresponsibility standard of Chapadeau is more lenient than the actual malice standard applicable to public figures … . * * *

… .WPIX could not be held liable for failure to retract the article during the nearly seven months that elapsed from her August 2014 retraction demand to its removal of the article from its website in March, 2015 upon her commencement of this case. Plaintiff provides “no authority to support [her] argument that the Chapadeau standard imposes a duty to correct previously-acquired information — and the law does not recognize such an obligation” … . Rainbow v WPIX, Inc., 2020 NY Slip Op 00499, First Dept 1-23-20

 

DEFENSE MOTION TO SET ASIDE THE VERDICT BASED UPON THE ALLEGED MISCONDUCT OF TWO JURORS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DENIED WITHOUT A HEARING (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, ordering a hearing, determined a juror’s expression of a romantic interest in a member of the prosecution team could amount to disqualifying juror misconduct. Allegations about another juror’s close relationship with a witness also warranted a hearing. The defense had moved to set aside the verdict alleging juror misconduct:

The court improvidently exercised its discretion in denying, without a hearing, that branch of defendant’s motion to set aside the verdict on the ground of alleged misconduct by two jurors (see CPL 330.40[2][f]).

The People’s trial preparation assistant, who assisted the trial prosecutors, disclosed that some time after the trial and before sentencing, he received a handwritten note in the mail from the jury foreperson, stating: “Now that the trial is over . . .” (ellipsis in original), followed by the juror’s first and last name, her juror number, the court part in which the trial had occurred, her phone number, and her address. The note also included a crossed-out phrase from which it could be inferred that the original version of the note had been written during the trial.

Under the circumstances, the note itself was sufficient evidence to raise an issue of fact about whether the foreperson’s apparent romantic interest in the trial preparation assistant prevented her from deliberating fairly … . The assistant’s affidavit stating that he did not respond to the juror’s note or otherwise communicate with her at any time is not dispositive, as the issue is the juror’s misconduct or bias during the trial.

The court also erred with regard to a second juror. That juror had a sufficiently close relationship with a witness to warrant a hearing as to whether that juror engaged in misconduct by failing to disclose the relationship to the court. People v Guillen, 2020 NY Slip Op 00387, First Dept 1-21-20

 

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