FINDLAW: Daily Opinion Summaries for New York Court of Appeals - 11/15/07

CIVIL PROCEDURE, CIVIL RIGHTS, INJURY AND TORT LAW

Nussenzweig v. diCorcia, No. 155In suit for violation of right to privacy based on photos taken of plaintiff in Times Square without his consent or knowledge, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed as the publishing event giving rise to plaintiff’s right of privacy claims first occurred no later than the fall of 2001, more than one year before he commenced suit, and, thus plaintiff’s claims are time-barred.

CIVIL RIGHTS, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE

O’Mara v. Town of Wappinger, No. 141An open space restriction imposed by a subdivision plat under New York Town Law section 276, when filed in the Office of the County Clerk pursuant to Real Property Law section 334, is enforceable against a subsequent purchaser.

CONTRACTS, INSURANCE LAW

Raffelini v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., No. 129A “serious injury” exclusion in a supplementary uninsured/underinsured motorist endorsement to an automobile liability policy is enforceable.

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE

People v. Olson, No. 134Conviction and sentence for assault in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree are affirmed over claims that the Appellate Division erred in: 1) applying the incorrect legal standard in determining that the verdict was not against the weight of the evidence; and 2) not reversing his conviction as the trial court improperly shifted to defendant the burden of proving justification, failed to view the evidence of justification in the light most favorable to defendant, and applied the wrong legal standard regarding the amount of force one can use for justification purposes.

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE

People v. Hill, No. 144Conviction based on guilty plea to rape is vacated as to the plea where, since the trial court did not inform defendant that a period of postrelease supervision would follow his term of incarceration, he did not possess the requisite information knowingly to waive his rights and must be permitted to withdraw his plea.

PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE

Simone v. Heidelberg, No. 130In case involving reciprocal easement agreement between two parties for use of a driveway, reversal of summary judgment for plaintiffs is reversed where the easement was extinguished when the common owners acquired title to both parcels and the common owners lacked the authority to recreate the driveway easement over the servient estate at the time they transferred the dominant estate.