NYS Court of Appeals Leaves 4th Dept Decision Recognizing Canadian Gay Marriage In Place

NY Sun (Joseph Goldstein): Court Decision Is Victory For Gay Marriage Backers

Gay marriage advocates have won a partial victory in New York, as the state’s highest court has left in place a lower court ruling that recognized a lesbian couple as being married. The Court of Appeals declined yesterday to review the mid-level appellate court’s decision to recognize the couple’s Canadian marriage, the first such ruling by an appellate court in New York State. For now, that lower court decision remains binding across the state. In 2006, the state’s Court of Appeals found that there was no right to same-sex marriages under the state constitution, leaving unanswered the question of whether the state would recognize same-sex marriages and civil unions performed in other states and abroad.

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Democrat and Chronicle (Gallagher and Craig): County at crossroads over same-sex benefits lawsuit

The state’s highest court Tuesday sent back to a lower court a case involving whether Monroe County has to recognize a marriage between two women, leaving the county to determine whether to continue its appeal challenging same-sex marriage. The Court of Appeals refused to hear the case of Patricia Martinez, an employee of Monroe Community College, who sued the county after it refused to grant benefits to Martinez’s female partner, Lisa Ann Golden, whom she married in Canada in 2004. The state Supreme Court ruled initially that they were not entitled to benefits, but that was overturned 5-0 by the mid-level Appellate Division, Fourth Department, of the state Supreme Court

FINDLAW: Daily Opinion Summaries for New York Court of Appeals - 05/06/08

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, EVIDENCE, LANDLORD TENANT LAW, PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE

In the Matter of IG Second Generation Partners L.P. v. New York State Div. of Hous. and Cmty. Renewal, No. 67
In an appeal addressing whether the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) had the authority to cancel rent arrears owed by a rent-stabilized tenant as a result of DHCR’s resolution of an unusually protracted fair market rent appeal, the court of appeals rules that DHCR did not have the authority under the circumstances of this case.

 

 

COMMERCIAL LAW, CONSUMER PROTECTION LAW, CONTRACTS, CORPORATION & ENTERPRISE LAW, EVIDENCE, INJURY AND TORT LAW

Pludeman v. N. Leasing Sys., Inc., No. 64
The court of appeals rules that plaintiffs sufficiently pleaded a cause of action for fraud against individually-named corporate defendants pursuant to CPLR 3016(b) where it was not unequivocal, as a matter of law, that a finder of fact could not reasonably infer the requisite knowledge or participation by the individual defendants in an act of fraud.

 

 

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE

People v. Umali, No. 66
Conviction for manslaughter in the first degree is affirmed where: 1) precluding defendant from speaking to counsel about his testimony during a trial recess did not deprive his right to counsel, as the ban on attorney-client communication was rescinded promptly after defendant’s protest; 2) the jury charge as a whole accurately stated that the government had to disprove the justification defense beyond a reasonable doubt; and 3) defendant’s remaining contentions were either unpreserved, meritless, or harmless.

Stimulus Payments Update 5-5-08

Stimulus payments directly deposited into IRAs and other tax-favored accounts may be withdrawn tax-free and penalty-free. See news release IR-2008-68.

Check the Economic Stimulus Payments Information Center on IRS.gov for updates. Also in Spanish.

Optimizing Your Web Site: The ABC’s of SEO

Law Practice Magazine :: Optimizing Your Web Site: The ABC’s of SEO
By Sharon Nelson and John Simek of Sensei Enterprises

Lawyers are constantly asking what single investment they can make to help grow their practices. Well, a not-to-be forgotten principle is that monies sensibly invested in Web sites will always return the investment. The bedrock element of “sensibly” involves optimization to attract visitors.

Recently we taught a seminar on legal Web sites and part of it, of course, was about search engine optimization (SEO)—which, essentially, is the art of properly constructing your site to get the highest possible rankings from search engines. Rather to our surprise, we learned from participants’ comments that many lawyers now understand how important search engine optimization is—but they also remain fairly clueless about how to achieve it.
To help rectify the situation, let’s address the fundamental questions about SEO to greatly up the odds that you invest in a first-class, creative Web site and that you know what to watch from there. Please bear with us—if you can absorb the material that follows, you will be well on your way to developing a site that really helps your bottom line.
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Read entire article with helpful list of “do’s and don’ts” to optimize your web site.
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Hat tip to LegalEase blog.

FINDLAW: Daily Opinion Summaries for New York Court of Appeals - 05/01/08

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, EVIDENCE, PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE

In the Matter of Pantelidis v. New York City Bd. of Standards and Appeals, No. 129 SSM 6
The order of the Appellate Division is affirmed, with costs, and the certified question is not answered upon the ground that it was unnecessary.
CIVIL PROCEDURE, CONSTRUCTION, CONTRACTS, INJURY AND TORT LAW, INSURANCE LAW, PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE, REMEDIES

Worth Constr. Co., Inc. v. Admiral Ins. Co., No. 52
In a coverage dispute brought by a general contractor arising from injuries sustained by a worker on a staircase installed by a subcontractor, a ruling finding that subcontractor’s insurer had a duty of defense and indemnity is reversed where: 1) the victim’s injury stemmed from slipping on fireproofing material applied by an entirely separate company unaffiliated with insured-subcontractor; and 2) because the general contractor admitted that its claims of negligence against subcontractor were without factual merit, it conceded that the staircase was merely the situs of the accident, and thus foreclosed arguments of any connection between the victim’s accident and the risk for which the coverage was intended.
CONTRACTS, HEALTH LAW, LANDLORD TENANT LAW, PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE, REMEDIES

P.A. Bldg. Co. v. City of New York, No. 59
In a landlord-tenant dispute involving whether asbestos abatement costs incurred by the landlord were “operating expenses” under the relevant terms of a commercial lease, judgment for landlord awarding additional rent due including amount of interest accrued is reversed and remanded where: 1) the underlying asbestos abatement costs were not “operating expenses” within the meaning of “escalation provisions” in the lease agreement; and 2) the interest amount on additional rent due should have been calculated from the date which an audit resisted by the landlord was finally commenced.
CORPORATION & ENTERPRISE LAW, GOVERNMENT LAW, PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE, PUBLIC UTILITIES

Jericho Water Dist. v. One Call Users Council, Inc., No. 69
With respect to Gen. Bus. Law section 761, which requires apportioning the costs of the “one-call notification system” among the operators of underground facilities who belong to it, but exempts “municipalities” from paying a share of the costs, the court of appeals rules that a “water district” is not a municipality for these purposes and must pay its share of the cost.
CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE, SENTENCING, TRANSPORTATION

People v. Cabrera, No. 61
In a criminal case arising from a traffic accident wherein sober defendant-driver’s excessive speeding claimed the lives of three passengers, conviction for criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault is reversed and dismissed where, although defendant’s excessive speeding behavior was negligent and unquestionably “blameworthy”, the evidence adduced at trial did not establish that circumstances surrounding the accident amounted to the kind of “morally blameworthy” component required to infer defendant’s criminal negligence. 

Google Earth 4.3 released

 

The newest version of Google Earth enables you to see 41 new cities in
3D, including Boston, Tampa, Zurich, Hamburg and Tokyo, along with
much faster 3D building rendering, new navigation control down to
street level, the ability to view the sun at any time of the day, and
more. They’ve also brought Street View from Maps to Earth and added 12
new languages.

http://earth.google.com

Law.com - Chief Judge Writes N.Y. Governor to Deny Work ‘Slowdown’ by State’s Judges

Vesselin Mitev and Daniel Wise
New York Law Journal
April 30, 2008

Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye wrote New York Gov. David A. Paterson Tuesday to assure him that reports of judicial “slowdown” were “without basis.”

In addition, the court system’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics issued an opinion Monday determining that Kaye’s recent lawsuit to compel an increase in judicial salaries does not require judges to recuse themselves, but they may do so as a matter of individual conscience.

On Monday, Paterson cautioned the state’s judges against engaging in any tactic that would slow litigation in order to press their case for a raise. A day earlier The New York Post had reported that increasing numbers of judges, most of them upstate, were refusing to hear cases where law firms with state legislators as members are appearing before them.

In her letter to Paterson Tuesday, Kaye wrote, “while some judges have individually chosen to recuse themselves from matters in which legislators or their firms appeared before them, there has not been — nor will there be — an adverse impact on litigants.”
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Read entire article.

FINDLAW: Daily Opinion Summaries for New York Court of Appeals - 04/29/08

CIVIL PROCEDURE, CONTRACTS, FAMILY LAW

In the Matter of M. S v. E. S., No. 63
In a proceeding wherein wife sought an upward modification of maintenance and child support in a written separation agreement, judgment that the parties were bound by the terms of the separation agreement is affirmed where the Family Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to entertain the spouse’s application for increased spousal maintenance.
CIVIL PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE, INJURY AND TORT LAW

Wilson v. Galicia Contracting & Restoration Corp., No. 65
In a personal injury action arising when plaintiff was walking under scaffolding assembled by defendant and a piece of material fell in his eye, a judgment and award for plaintiff is affirmed primarily where: 1) a claim that CPLR 3215 (f) renders the judgment a nullity was not preserved; and 2) the courts below correctly held that, due to its failure to comply with a self-executing conditional order, defendant was precluded from introducing any evidence at the inquest “tending to defeat the plaintiff’s cause of action”.
CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, SENTENCING

People v, Sparber, No. 53
In appeals considering whether defendants were entitled to relief of their statutory obligation to serve a term of post-release supervision (PRS) because sentencing courts failed to pronounce their PRS terms in accordance with Crim. Proc. Law sections 380.20 and 380.40, the court of appeals concludes that the procedure through which PRS was imposed upon the defendants was flawed, as it did not comply with the statutory mandate. However, in remedying this error, rather than striking the PRS from the sentences, the matters are remanded for resentencing and the proper judicial pronouncement of the relevant PRS terms.
CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, SENTENCING

In the Matter of Garner v. New York State Dep’t of Corr. Serv. , No. 57
The New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) may not administratively add a mandatory period of Post-Release Supervision (PRS) onto a prisoner’s sentence when the PRS term was never pronounced by the sentencing judge, as Crim. Pro. Law 380.20 and 380.40 collectively provide that only a judge may impose a PRS sentence.

Stimulus Payments Update

Even though April 15 has passed, disabled veterans and others who normally do not file a tax return can still submit a 2007 form to receive a payment. See news releaseIR-2008-65. Others who have already filed a return may get their payments directly deposited into their accounts starting April 28. News release IR-2008-66 has details.

Check the Economic Stimulus Payments Information Center on IRS.gov for updates. Also in Spanish.

“And the Winner is…” Jurist!!

From JURIST:

In case you haven’t heard, JURIST has been nominated in New York for a prestigious Webby Award as best Law website of 2008!

 

We’re actually up for two prizes, one awarded by the Webby judges, and another, called the People’s Voice, awarded by popular online vote. Some of you may remember that JURIST actually won the Webby People’s Voice Award in 2006, beating Court TV and FindLaw in a close race.

 

This year JURIST and our dedicated band of law student staffers are up against some more heavyweight competition, including the website of the American Bar Association (ABA) Journal (the world’s largest circulation law magazine!) and the recruiting website for New York-based Shearman and Sterling, the world’s 17th largest law firm by revenue.

 

To win, we need your help. Here’s what you can do:

 

1. Go to http://pv.webbyawards.com/account/signup   and register to vote;

 

2. Once you register, an activation code will be sent to your email (check to make sure it’s not misdirected to your “junk” folder);

 

3. Log on to http://pv.webbyawards.com/ and click on “Website: Vote now”;

 

4. Scroll down to “Society” and click on the “Law” category;

 

5. Vote for JURIST!

 

The process just takes a couple of minutes.

 

Once you’ve voted yourself, *please* spread the word to your colleagues, friends, students and family - anyone you think should know about JURIST and the public service we perform every day by bringing you comprehensive, serious legal news and commentary with a global perspective.

 

Voting ends this Thursday, May 1; Webby winners will be announced in New York May 6.

 

Thanks for your support!

 

Best wishes,

 

Bernard

 

Professor Bernard Hibbitts

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, JURIST

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu

 

Webby Awards Official Nominee/Law 2008

Webby Awards Official Honoree/Students 2008

University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Hibbitts@pitt.edu