Continuing litigation efforts that date back a quarter of a century, a group of “gentlemen’s cabarets” (which the court alternatively describes as “strip clubs”) and adult bookstores located in Manhattan have brought suit to challenge the constitutionality of 2001 Amendments to the NYC Zoning Resolution as applied to “adult establishments.” Numerous prior assaults on this measure, first passed during the Giuliani Administration in an attempt by the City to sharply reduce the number of adult … <Read More>
New York Court of Appeals
Disappointed Gay Dad Asks Supreme Court to Overturn Key New York Precedent
In Brooke S.B. v. Elizabeth A.C.C., 61 N.E.3d 488 (2016), the New York Court of Appeals overruled a 25-year-old precedent and held that when there is clear and convincing evidence that a same-sex couple agreed to have a child and raise the child together, where only one of them will be the child’s biological parent, and both of the parties performed parental duties and bonded with the children, the other parent would have the … <Read More>
N.Y. Family Court Judge Uses Equitable Estoppel to Find Co-Parent Standing in the Absence of Pre-Conception Agreement
Filling a gap in New York family law left open by the New York Court of Appeals’ 2016 decision In the Matter of Brooke S.B., 28 N.Y.3d 1, 61 N.E.3d 48839 N.Y.S.3d 89, Nassau County Family Court Judge Thomas Rademaker held in J.C. v. N.P., a decision published by the New York Law Journal on September 27, 2017, that the doctrine of equitable estoppel could be used to establish the standing of a lesbian co-parent … <Read More>
New York Court of Appeals Overrules Alison D., Sets New Test for Co-Parent Standing
The New York Court of Appeals has overruled a quarter-century-old precedent, establishing a new rule for determining when somebody who is neither a biological nor an adoptive parent can seeking custody of a child. The opinion for the court by Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam in Brooke S.B. v. Elizabeth A. C.C., 2016 N.Y. LEXIS 2668, 2016 Westlaw 4507780 (August 30, 2016), provides that “where a partner shows by clear and convincing evidence that the parties … <Read More>
Judith Kaye, a champion of lesbian & gay rights, dies at 77
Retired Chief Judge Judith Kaye of the New York Court of Appeals died on January 7, 2016, at age 77. Most accounts of her passing mentioned her dissenting opinion in the case of Hernandez v. Robles, 7 N.Y.3d 338 (2006), the case in which the state’s highest court voted against the claim that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, as one of her most notable opinions, but this was merely the capstone of … <Read More>
NY High Court Approves Reduced Charges in HIV Transmission Case
The New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, ruled 4-1 on February 19 that a Syracuse (Onondaga County) trial judge had appropriately granted a defendant’s motion to reduce charges against him from felony to misdemeanor reckless endangerment where the defendant had apparently transmitted HIV to another man by engaging in unprotected anal sex without disclosing his HIV status, reassuring his sex partner that it was “okay.” People v. Williams, 2015 WL 685818. The … <Read More>
New York High Court Affirms Setting Aside Hate Crime Conviction as Inconsistent
The New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, ruled unanimously on November 24 that the Appellate Division had correctly reversed the hate crime manslaughter conviction of Dwight R. DeLee, who was charged in the murder of a New York transgender woman named Lateisha Green, because the jury’s verdict was inconsistent. However, the court modified the Appellate Division’s decision by granting the prosecution an opportunity to resubmit the charge of manslaughter in the first … <Read More>