In a negligence case that I recently defended, my client, a real estate developer, opted to hire a construction manager rather than a general contractor to oversee the development of this New York City building. Apparently, one of the main distinctions between a general contractor and a construction manager is the level of responsibility they [...]
In Bimini Boat Sales, Inc. v. Luhrs Corp., plaintiff Bimini, a retail boat dealer, bought a fishing boat from boat manufacturer Luhrs, intending to resell the boat to the general public. Unfortunately for Bimini, after they received the boat from Luhrs, they discovered that the boat had several defects that were serious enough to render [...]
In Bernhardt v. Tradition North America, a case very similar to the one we discussed recently in “Why Whistleblower Protection Clause In Employee Manual May Be Worthless,” the plaintiff, who was a vice president at defendant Tradition North America Inc., notified the SEC of various securities schemes that he had supposedly uncovered at his company. [...]
In Shiamili v. Real Estate Group of NY, Inc., an opinion issued by New York’s Appellate Division, First Department (which covers both New York and Bronx Counties), answered this question with an unequivocal ‘no’ – the internet services provider (or “interactive computer service) cannot be held liable for defamation (or unfair competition) unless the internet [...]
Before addressing the merits of a breach of contract/wrongful termination claim against an employer, the threshold question that must be asked is “if I win, is a judgment against my former employer collectible?” Unfortunately, in this economy, the answer to this question is increasingly “no.” Consequently, even if you have the most meritorious claim, external [...]
In light of my previous columns (see, e.g., Piercing the Corporate Veil – Critical Facts That You Will Need to Prove Your Case and, from earlier today, No Personal Liability For Corporate Fraud, Court Holds) setting forth some of the difficulties in piercing the corporate veil, here’s a “hot-off-the-presses” decision from a Federal judge in [...]
As you may be aware, different types of claims have amounts of times that they may be sued upon under New York law. This is commonly referred to as a “statute of limitations.” Some of the more common examples of this include a breach of contract claim (6 years) and negligence (3 years). (Note: malpractice [...]
In my experience, there are few legal phrases that are more misunderstood or misapplied than “fiduciary duty.” Within the confines of this limited post, I hope to clarify this concept. Before we can approach a fiduciary’s obligations, we must define what a fiduciary is – and what it is not. A fiduciary relationship is characterized [...]
The fact pattern is all too familiar: D enters into a contract with small business P to jointly develop certain products, and then not only breaches the contract with P, but then breaches his fiduciary duty to P and uses the proprietary information that he gained during their alliance to try and poach P’s proprietary [...]
Over the last several years, I’ve been struck by the frustration people have expressed at poor service providers in a myriad of different contexts, ranging from coatroom attendants who lost their belongings to the non-functional central monitoring of house alarm systems and defective products. And I’ve also found that in most of these cases, the [...]