All the latest firm news and industry updates from Whiteman Osterman & Hanna.

This is a case that warms the heart of appellate geeks like me, those who get unduly excited over issues of appellate jurisdiction. In Matter of 381 Search Warrants Directed to Facebook, Inc. (New York County District Attorney’s Office) (No. 16), previewed here, the Court of Appeals held that two orders denying Facebook’s motion to quash a bulk search warrant issued under the federal Stored Communications Act and denying Facebook’s request for production of the affidavit used [...]

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In Matter of East Ramapo Cent. Sch. Dist. v King (No. 21), previewed here, the Court of Appeals sidestepped the issue of whether school districts have the right to judicial review under CPLR Article 78 of New York State Department of Education determinations enforcing the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In East Ramapo Cent. Sch. Dist., the public school district sought to challenge a NYSED determination that it violated the IDEA by routinely placing students with [...]

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In O'Brien v The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (No. 27), previewed here, the plaintiff was injured when he slipped and fell down a wet temporary steel staircase while working at the World Trade Center Freedom Tower. The plaintiff sued, and Supreme Court denied summary judgment to all parties on O'Brien's Labor Law 240(1) claim because the parties submitted conflicting expert affidavits raising triable issues of fact concerning whether the worn anti-slip staircase provided sufficient [...]

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In Expressions Hair Design v Schneiderman, the Supreme Court today held that New York General Business Law § 518, which bans the imposition of credit card surcharges on customers, though permits retailers to offer a discount to those who pay in cash, regulates retailers' speech, and remands the case to the Second Circuit to decide whether the statute violates the First Amendment. General Business Law § 518 provides that that “[n]o seller in any sales transaction may impose a [...]

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Grand Theft Auto V is the latest in a popular series of the video games where the player controls one of several main characters in a mob family/drug cartel story that takes place in the fictional city of Los Santos, San Andreas. After the game was released, Plaintiffs Lindsay Lohan and Karen Gravano (of the reality show Mob Wives) were upset at what they believed to be characters that depicted them in particular ways. In 2014, they commenced suit against Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., the [...]

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