Partner Lewis Silverman and associate Caroline Lineen recently received a decision from Southern District of New York Judge Seibel adopting a Report and Recommendation dismissing a Section 1983 false arrest case. In the decision, Judge Seibel ruled that the plaintiff did not allege any custom or practice of a Village police department to establish Monell liability. In that case, the local police department's role was limited to taking a civilian complaint and calling another police agency in another state, who in turn, arrested the plaintiff. Based on those facts, Judge Seibel ruled that the Village had no unconstitutional custom or practice and upheld dismissal of the case against the Village.
Rutherford & Christie has been selected as one of the "Top 100 Diversity Owned Businesses in Georgia" by DiversityBusiness.com. Over 650,000 privately held businesses in the United States had the opportunity to participate in DiversityBusiness.com's annual business survey. The awards are based on gross revenue and the firm's business profile.
"As one of only a few woman-owned law firms nationwide, we are pleased to have been recognized with this prestigious honor," explained partner Carrie L. Christie. "It applauds something for which we are very proud - our diversity."
Award recipients will be honored during the 10th Annual National Business Awards Ceremony and Conference, April 27-29, 2010 at the Gaylord National Resort in Washington, D.C.
Partner Lewis Silverman and associate Caroline Lineen obtained a decision granting summary judgment for a school district, the Superintendent of Schools and Assistant Superintendent of Schools. The plaintiff, the former Head Custodian at the school district's high school, alleged that his employment was terminated in retaliation for complaining about a potential asbestos spill in the gymnasium. The court granted summary judgment, however, based on Garcetti v. Ceballos, holding that the plaintiff's alleged speech was not protected by the First Amendment because it arose out of the course of his duties as Head Custodian.
Partner Lewis Silverman recently obtained a defense verdict after a five day jury trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The plaintiff, who is a clerk/typist for a school district alleged that the district retaliated against her after she complained of sexual harassment by an outside vendor. She alleged that when she complained about the harassment, her supervisor "giggled and laughed." The plaintiff then made a complaint about her supervisor's reaction to her complaint and she claimed that he then started to retaliate against her by not giving her bi-monthly performance evaluations and creating a hostile environment. After three hours of deliberations, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the district finding that the district did not take any retaliatory adverse employment actions.
Partner Lewis Silverman and associate Samantha Velez successfully obtained dismissal of all of the federal claims in a lawsuit against a school district and several of its administrators. The plaintiffs primarily alleged that the defendants deprived a special education student of educational accommodations he was entitled to under state and federal law. In sum, the Court dismissed with prejudice a Section 1985(3) conspiracy claim based on the "intra-corporate conspiracy doctrine, a First Amendment retaliation claim and a Fourteenth Amendment right of intimate association against all of the defendants. IDEA, ADA and Rehabilitation Act Section 504 claims and a Section 1983 claim related to those alleged statutory violations were also dismissed based on the plaintiffs failure to exhaust their administrative remedies.
Carrie L. Christie was published in the September/October 2009 edition of Commercial Building Savvy magazine. The article, like similar ones that have appeared in industry publications explains how the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision in early 2009 will impact contractors. Click here to read the complete article, "Supreme Court Upholds Doctrine Favorably Impacting Contractors’ Liability.”
Commercial Building Savvy is a bi-monthly publication for and about commercial construction professionals. It is focused on the organizations and people that build metro Atlanta’s commercial buildings. For more information, visit www.cbsavvy.com.
Carrie L. Christie, a member of the Defense Research Institute (DRI), was featured in the September 30, 2009 edition of DRI's The Voice. As part of its coverage of defense wins nationwide, DRI focused on Ms. Christie’s victory earlier this year at the Supreme Court of Georgia.
In a 4-3 decision, the court upheld the 100-year-old acceptance doctrine, which shields contractors from liability to injured third parties, where the contractor has completed its work, turned it over to the owner and the owner accepted the work. The case, Bragg v. Oxford Construction Co., 285 Ga. 98 (2009), reached the state supreme court after Oxford Construction Company, represented by Ms. Christie, was granted summary judgment in two separate lawsuits, one resulting in death and another in significant personal injuries, filed by plaintiffs Kenneth and Francesca Bragg.
DRI is the international organization of attorneys defending the interests of business and individuals in civil litigation.
Carrie L. Christie was published in the July/August 2009 edition of The Georgia Contractor magazine. The article, "Legislature Overhauls Transportation Oversight: Strips DOT Power; Fails to Pass Funding Measure," recounts the tumultuous session of the 2009 General Assembly that sought to deal with Georgia's transportation woes. Click here to read the full text.
Ms. Christie's article concludes, "While it appears that the legislature made aggressive moves in the direction of accountability within the DOT, comprehensive transportation funding was not forthcoming for the second year in a row and voters will, once again, not be presented any sales tax options to consider this November. Given the recent call for accountability, the desperate need to fund a multi-billion dollar transportation shortfall, and poll results reflecting widespread voter support for a one percent sales and use tax for transportation, there seems little, if any, reason why the General Assembly will not be able to approve desperately needed transportation funding in 2010."
The Georgia Contractor is published bi-monthly, and is designed around the construction industry associations and their members. For more information, visit them online at www.thegeorgiacontractor.com.
Carrie L. Christie was published in the March/April 2009 edition of The Georgia Contractor magazine. The article, "Supreme Court Upholds Doctrine Impacting Contractors’ Liability," explains the effects of the high court’s decision on contractors in Georgia. Click here to read the complete article.
As Ms. Christie recommends in her article, "Attorneys should advise their contractor clients to be cautious about entering into contractual agreements that require the contractor to retain sole liability for all negligence, which could be construed as a waiver of the acceptance doctrine. While obligations to defend, indemnify, or hold harmless an owner or government entity are standard, attorneys should advise Georgia contractors to limit such obligations to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the owner if the owner is sued."
The Georgia Contractor is published bi-monthly, and is designed around the construction industry associations and their members. For more information, visit them online at www.thegeorgiacontractor.com.
Partner Lewis Silverman and associate Julie Rivera recently obtained dismissal of a Section 1983 action alleging equal protection violations against a school district. The plaintiff alleged that she was discriminated against by a school district when she was terminated from her part-time position as Youth Employment Services coordinator. The court dismissed the case before discovery, holding that "none of the Plaintiff's allegations demonstrate more than a sheer possibility" that any of the defendants acted unlawfully.
Partner Lewis Silverman and associate Samantha Velez recently obtained a dismissal of a case against a Village, the Village Zoning Board and the Village Building Inspector. The plaintiff, who is a homeowner in the Village that had been denied a Certificate of Occupancy, filed a lawsuit challenging a Village Zoning ordinance as vague and also asserting that the Village deprived him of his right to due process. The court dismissed the plaintiff's case, holding that the Village ordinance was not vague and that his substantive due process rights were not violated because he did not have a "legitimate claim or entitlement" to occupy his property before a Certificate of Occupancy was issued.
Partner Lewis Silverman recently obtained dismissal of two of three counts in a Section 1983 civil rights case against a school district, its Superintendent of Schools and the Deputy Superintendent of Schools. The plaintiff's Complaint alleged that the District violated her First Amendment right to association and further violations of her Fourteenth Amendment rights to substantive due process and privacy. The plaintiff alleged that the District improperly ordered her to submit to a New York State Education Law § 913 psychiatric examination and then publicized the order on the District’s web-site after it received information that she had inappropriately raised her voice at students and discarded student work. The teacher was suspended with pay, and was directed not to communicate with any school district employees while suspended.
On October 20, 2009, partner Lewis Silverman gave a presentation about harassment and discrimination to employees of Wright Risk Management, LLC. The training session discussed understanding what harassment and discrimination are, what to do if an employee is a victim or witness to harassment and also reviewed the company's internal procedures. Examples of harassment situations were presented to the attendees.
Partner Lewis Silverman recently obtained a voluntary discontinuance in a First Amendment retaliation case days after the plaintiff's deposition. The plaintiff alleged that a school district official and local police retaliated against her by having her arrested after she made complaints about a chemical spill in a school building. Among other things, the plaintiff claimed that she did not continue to make complaints about the situation to New York State, Westchester County and local government agencies after her arrest. Deposition testimony was elicited, however, that the plaintiff had already ceased making complaints before her arrest on charges of falsely reporting an incident. If the plaintiff had not voluntarily discontinued the case, defendants were prepared to file a summary judgment motion.
Partner Lewis Silverman successfully argued that the Second Circuit should uphold a summary judgment dismissal of a Title VI case against a public school district and its administrators. The plaintiff alleged that the school district had actual notice of student-to-student racial harassment incidents and was deliberately indifferent to the harassment. The plaintiff claimed that school staff witnessed the harassment, but did nothing about it. The Second Circuit disagreed with the plaintiff's argument and affirmed the lower court decision. The court held that the school district did not have actual notice of any racial harassment and that the school's actions did not amount to deliberate indifference, as required under Title VI. D.T. v. Somers Central School District, et al. (2d Circ. 2009)
Recently, in a case acquiring national media attention, Rutherford & Christie attorneys David Rutherford and Jeremy Spiegel obtained a dismissal of plaintiff’s Complaint in its entirety where is was claimed that plaintiff, who has a life threatening allergy to peanuts and warned the airline of said allergy, was psychologically injured after it was observed that the airline served peanuts in another section of his flight from New York to Los Angeles notwithstanding the plaintiff’s prior warning.
On September 2, 2009, Rutherford & Christie attorney Michael Becker, obtained summary judgment in State Supreme Court, Suffolk County before Judge Mayer in favor of all defendants including The Nutty Irishman, a Bar/Restaurant in Bay Shore Long Island.
On June 8, 2009, Rutherford & Christie attorney Michael Becker, obtained summary judgment in State Supreme Court, New York County before Judge Solomon in favor of Integrity Contracting Inc. dismissing all third-party plaintiffs’ causes of action.
On April 3, 2009, Rutherford & Christie attorneys Michael Becker and Veronica Gannon obtained a jury award in the amount of $1,146,146.25 in State Supreme Court, New York County. Judge Ling-Cohan presided over the three week trial involving a partial collapse of a historic building in Soho. The jury determined that the partial collapse of 152 Wooster Street was due to the negligence of the developer, general contractor and sub-contractor of a construction site adjacent to this historic loft building. In the unusual circumstance, R&C represented the plaintiff, 152 Wooster St. Corp., in this matter.
On June 8, 2009, Rutherford & Christie attorneys Carrie Christie and Andrea E. Dobur obtained summary judgment in favor of Bethany Christian Church, Inc., and its youth minister in a civil battery case.
On April 10, 2009, Rutherford & Christie attorneys Carrie Christie and Andrea E. Dobur obtained summary judgment in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia, in favor of Comanche Construction Company.
On February 9, 2009, the Supreme Court of Georgia handed Rutherford & Christie partner Carrie L. Christie a victory by affirming the lower courts' decision in favor of the firm's client, Oxford Construction, in a negligent construction case (Bragg et. al. v. Oxford Construction Company).
In January 2009, Rutherford & Christie received national re-certification as a Women's Business Enterprise by the Georgia Women's Business Council, a regional certifying partner of the national Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).
In 2009, Rutherford & Christie attorneys Carrie L. Christie and Andrea E. Dobur won a defense verdict during a bifurcated trial in Fulton County (Georgia) State Court. The case had the potential for a verdict in excess of the policy limits and significant punitive damages against the insured. Plaintiff's counsel would not accept policy limits tendered by the insurer prior to trial. Despite the fact that liability was admitted, the jury was presented with compelling evidence by the R&C team that the plaintiff's disabling condition was not the result of negligence by the defendant. The jury agreed and returned an award in favor of the defendant on compensatory damages, which prevented the plaintiff from obtaining any punitive damages award.
Rutherford & Christie attorneys Lewis Silverman and Caroline Lineen recently tried an employment discrimination case to a defense verdict in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiff, a teacher in the South Orangetown school district, claimed that the school district discriminated against her because she is of East Asian Indian descent and Muslim. She argued that the District paid her at a lower rate than other teachers, refused to transfer her from a third grade position to a sixth grade position, did not provide her with reasonable health care accommodations, and did not support her against parental complaints because of her race and religion.
(January 22, 2009) David S. Rutherford, a partner with Rutherford & Christie, was recently commended by the National Retail and Restaurant Defense Association (NRRDA) for his work as local defense counsel for Ruby Tuesday, Inc. Following is an excerpt from the NRRDA commendation:
On February 6, 2009, Rutherford & Christie partner Lewis Silverman was a member of a panel discussion for the Lower Hudson Association of Pupil Personnel Administrators (LHAPPA). The subject was parents' perspectives on educating children with autism spectrum disorder. The meeting was attended by special education administrators from approximately 20 school districts in Westchester and Putnam Counties, New York.