Was “Emergency Doctrine” Implicated? It takes two to make a car/pedestrian accident. Was the driver excused from liability under the emergency doctrine? Aguilera De Diaz asserted that she was crossing the street, within the crosswalk, with the light in her favor, when she was struck by Richard D. Klausner’s vehicle, which was making a left turn. But Klausner countered that De Diaz, in fact, was not crossing the crosswalk from the northeast side of the street, but rather, out of nowhere, appeared to be coming from the west side of the street, causing impact to the left driver side of his vehicle as… Read more

Court Determines If Misinformation Sufficed to Establish Usual Place of Abode An intermediate appellate court was recently presented with a simple question that had not previously arisen: whether an affirmative misrepresentation by a relative of a defendant at a residential address that the address was proper, which was relied upon by a process server, may establish that service was valid–even if evidence established that the address was not, in fact, the defendant’s actual dwelling place or usual place of abode? Or, under the circumstances, was service of process upon the defendant at an address that was not actually his dwelling… Read more

Court Decides If Neighbor Negligently Caused Actionable Nuisance Richard W. Tortorici sued his neighbor, William Massaroni, in the Small Claims Part, for $1,142.22 in damages for nuisance/negligence in constructing a storm water system and ignoring a Stop Work Order concerning new construction located at a property adjacent to Tortorici’s residence on or about November 12, 2021. Tortorici testified on his own behalf and called no witnesses. He was cross-examined by Massaroni and made a statement in rebuttal. Massaroni testified on his own behalf and called no other witnesses. He was cross-examined by Tortorici and made a statement in rebuttal. Both… Read more

Did Brother Establish a Constructive Trust? Subodh C. Sarker and Nirmal C. Das are brothers. Das is the title owner of real property in Queens, which he acquired from Sarker by bargain and sale deed dated August 26, 2002. Sarker continued to reside at the property after the sale. In May 2018, Das started a holdover proceeding in the Civil Court to evict Sarker from the property. Das was successful in the holdover proceeding and a warrant for eviction was ultimately issued. Prior to the scheduled eviction, Sarker filed an action against Das to impose a constructive trust on the… Read more

Would Court Enforce Post-Employment Restrictive Covenants? Mission Capital LLC d/b/a SBG Funding is a financial services firm that provides personalized financing solutions to small businesses.  Jason Javich began working for SBG in February 2020 as an account executive and was employed as a manager at the time of his resignation about 18 months later. In addition to managing his own customers, Javich was also responsible for managing a team of seven account executives that worked under him. Javich oversaw the sales process for all of his team members. And SBG entrusted Javich with access to its proprietary client list database… Read more

Was Property Owner Liable to Injury Victim? On May 5, 2017, Donna Bochman allegedly was bitten by “Bentley”, a pit bull owned by William Santos. The incident took place in an outdoor common area of an apartment complex operated by Colonial Property Management in Middletown, New York. According to Bochman: I was walking to Apartment 4 and I was walking on the thing. I saw [Mr. Santos’] dog. I tried to move over. His dog came up to me, because his dog was in the middle, his dog came up to me and tried to sniff my crotch and I… Read more

Court Addresses Validity of Will Disposing of $30m+ Estate On February 18, 2015, Dolores Ormandy Neumann fell in her home and broke her hip. Her neighbor contacted Dolores’ daughter, Belinda, who took her to the emergency room. The following day, in the hospital before her hip surgery, Dolores executed a testamentary instrument, her penultimate will. The February 19th document was drafted and its execution overseen telephonically by an attorney in Florida, who worked for the Law Offices of Amy Holzman. Holzman, who worked and resided in New York State, was away on vacation and out of the country at the time…. Read more

Court Decides If Made in Hospital Holographic Will Was Valid During the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Juanita Koutsakas was admitted to New York Presbyterian Queens Hospital on March 14, 2020 due to symptoms she was exhibiting from an ongoing battle with cancer. She died in the hospital eight days later on March 22, 2020 survived by her sole distributee spouse Steven. Proffered for probate was an instrument purportedly handwritten by Juanita in the hospital on March 18, 2020 naming her niece Maria Koutsakos as sole beneficiary. The instrument was on a single piece of folded plain white paper and… Read more

Court Decides If Board Had Grounds to Rescind Sale for Fraud? Trump Village, Section 4 Inc., a private cooperative residential apartment complex, sued Gene Vilensky to rescind the sale of the shares appurtenant to the cooperative apartment he purchased in 2014. The first cause of action in the complaint sought damages for fraud, alleging that Vilensky intentionally misrepresented in his purchase application for the apartment that he would be the sole occupant and use it as his private residence. Trump Village alleged that instead he sublet the apartment on a short-term basis as part of a “real estate business.”  And… Read more

Did One Owner Have Claim against the Others? On August 24, 2017, Irma Sanchez brought her dog, Patron, for a playdate with Michael and Marsha’s dog, Gizmo, at the Birds’ residence. Sanchez alleged that Gizmo ran up to her and knocked her down during the playdate. And alleged that the Birds knew of Gizmo’s propensity to knock people down. On July 11, 2018, Sanchez sued the Birds for damages for the alleged injuries she sustained when Gizmo knocked her down. The Birds moved for summary judgment dismissing the Sanchez complaint. And alleged that Gizmo did not have any vicious propensities…. Read more