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For December 22, 2017 through December 28, 2017, the following preliminary appeal
statements were filed:
DeVERA, MATTER OF v ELIA (152 AD3d 13):
3rd Dept. App. Div. order of 6/8/17; reversal; leave to appeal granted by Court of
Appeals, 12/12/17; Proceeding Against Body or Officer--Certiorari--CPLR article 78
proceeding on behalf of charter schools and parents of children attending
pre-kindergarten programs at the schools to, among other things, annul so much of the
Commissioner of Education's determination as found the charter schools properly
required to execute a Pre-K contract as a condition to receiving state funds as a
collaborating partner with a public school district--whether a school district can impose
regulations on a charter school to obtain state funding for pre-kindergarten programming
as a partner in the school district's consolidated application to the New York State
Department of Education--grants under Education Law § 73; Supreme Court, Albany
County, dismissed petitioners' application in a CPLR article 78 proceeding, to review a
determination of respondent Commissioner of Education partially dismissing petitioners'
challenge to certain conditions imposed upon their receipt of certain state funds; App.
Div. reversed, granted the petition, annulled that part of the determination upholding
certain conditions imposed upon petitioners' receipt of certain state funds, and remitted
the matter to respondent Commissioner of Education for further proceedings not
inconsistent with the decision.
MATTER OF LACEE L. (STEPHANIE L.; ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN'S
SERVICES) (153 AD3d
1151):
1st Dept. App. Div. order of 9/12/17; affirmance; leave to appeal granted by App.
Div., 12/7/17; Social Services--Foster Care--Whether the Americans With Disabilities
Act applies in Family Court article 10 proceeding in evaluating whether agency made
reasonable efforts to achieve the permanency goal of returning the subject child to the
parent, who suffers from a cognitive disability; Family Court, Bronx County, determined
that petitioner agency made reasonable efforts to achieve the permanency goal of
returning the subject child to respondent mother during the nine-month period following
the child's removal; App. Div. affirmed.
MANCINI, MATTER OF v OFFICE OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES (151 AD3d 1494):
3rd Dept. App. Div. order of 6/29/17; affirmance; leave to appeal granted by Court
of Appeals, 12/14/17; Workers' Compensation--Limitation of Right to Compensation--
Whether compensation benefits awarded for impairment of wage-earning capacity
pursuant to Workers' Compensation Law § 15(3)(v) are subject to the durational
limitations of Workers' Compensation Law § 15(3)(w); App. Div. affirmed decision of
the New York State Workers' Compensation Board, which ruled, among other things, that
claimant was entitled to workers' compensation benefits pursuant to Workers'
Compensation Law § 15(3)(v).
SAVE AMERICA'S CLOCKS, INC., MATTER OF v CITY OF NEW YORK (157 AD3d 133):
1st Dept. App. Div. order of 11/30/17; affirmance with dissents; Municipal
Corporations--Landmarks--Whether determination of New York City Landmarks
Preservation Committee (LPC) approving a Certificate of Appropriateness allowing
owner of property to convert landmark-designated clock tower into a private residence,
and to convert the clock from a mechanical to an electrical system of operation, was
arbitrary and capricious, lacked a rational basis in the record, or was affected by an error
of law; whether New York City's Landmarks Preservation and Historic Districts Law
(Administrative Code of City of NY § 25-301 et seq.) permits the LPC to require the
property owner to allow continuing public access to interior landmark; whether requiring
continued public access to interior landmark constitutes a taking under the 5th
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; Supreme Court, New York County, granted the
CPLR article 78 petition to annul a Certificate of Appropriateness, issued 5/29/15, which
authorized work on certain features of a designated interior landmark; App. Div.
affirmed.
NEW YORK CITY ASBESTOS LITIGATION, MATTER OF (SOUTH v CHEVRON) (153 AD3d 461):
1st Dept. App. Div. order of 8/29/17; affirmance; leave to appeal granted by App.
Div., 12/14/17; Seamen--Jones Act--Whether release executed by plaintiff in a 1997
Jones Act (46 USC § 30104 et seq.) action was enforceable in subsequent Jones Act and
negligence action brought by plaintiff and his wife derivatively against defendant
manufacturer of asbestos; plaintiff, who was exposed to asbestos while serving as
merchant mariner, executed release before mesothelioma diagnosis; enforceability of
release under Federal Employers' Liability Act (45 USC § 55); Supreme Court, New York
County, denied defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint
insofar as asserted against it; App. Div. affirmed.
For December 29, 2017 through January 4, 2018, the following preliminary appeal
statements were filed:
ALLEN (DORAN), PEOPLE v (152 AD3d 401):
1st Dept. App. Div. order of 7/6/17; reversal; leave to appeal granted by Kahn, J.,
12/21/17; Grand Jury--Resubmission of Charges--Whether People improperly
re-presented second-degree murder charge to grand jury without obtaining leave of the
court pursuant to CPL 190.75(3); where defendant was ultimately acquitted of murder
charge, whether presence of murder charge during trial and submission of that charge to
the jury improperly influenced the verdict convicting defendant of manslaughter in the
first degree; whether harmless error analysis applies; Supreme Court, Bronx County,
convicted defendant of manslaughter in the first degree and sentenced him to a term of 25
years; App. Div. reversed and remanded for a new trial.
MID-HUDSON VALLEY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION v QUARTARARO & LOIS, PLLC (155 AD3d 1218):
3rd Dept. App. Div. order of 11/9/17; modification with dissents; Rule 500.11
review pending; Dismissal and Nonsuit--Dismissal of Complaint--Extent of
particularization required in a complaint alleging legal malpractice, breach of contract and
fraud, in the face of defendants' CPLR 3211 (a)(7) pre-answer motion to dismiss the
complaint; attorney and client--malpractice; Supreme Court, Ulster County, granted
defendants' motion pursuant to CPLR 3025(a) and 3211(a) to dismiss the complaint to the
extent of dismissing the breach of contract cause of action, but denied the motion with
regard to the legal malpractice and fraud causes of action; App. Div. modified by
reversing so much of the order as denied defendant's motion to dismiss the legal
malpractice and fraud causes of action, granted the motion to that extent and dismissed
those causes of action, and, as so modified, affirmed.
THOMAS (MICHAEL), PEOPLE v (153 AD3d 860):
2nd Dept. App. Div. order of 8/23/17; affirmance; leave to appeal granted by
Rivera, J., 12/18/17; Crimes--Sentence--Second Felony Offender--Whether a prior felony
conviction may be used as a predicate felony conviction if the defendant is resentenced on
the prior felony conviction after the commission of the instant felony; Supreme Court,
Kings County, granted defendant's CPL 440.10 motion to set aside a sentence of the same
court, imposed 12/14/93, upon his conviction of robbery in the third degree, upon a jury
verdict, and directed that he be resentenced; App. Div. affirmed.