- Child AbuseThe case is Myers v. Patterson, decided on April 11. Someone called the child abuse hotline to report that plaintiff was acting in an eccentric manner with respect to her child at school.
- Traffic ViolationsIt all started when the police got a tip about a house that was the site of narcotics activity. The police followed one guy out of the house and approached him. That was Strieff. In the parking lot at the nearby convenience store, the police asked him for ID. The police relayed Strieff's information to a dispatcher, who found there was an outstanding warrant on a traffic violation. Strieff was arrested on that warrant, and in searching him incident to that arrest (normal police procedure), they found drug paraphernalia. Problem was, the initial stop of Strieff was illegal because there was no reasonable suspicion for it. The drug paraphernalia was the fruit of the poisonous stop. But that does not mean it cannot be used against him.
- Sex CrimesThis guy sued the police for false arrest after they arrested him for a sexual assault that he did not commit. The case arose when the victim identified plaintiff as the attacker after seeing him walking in her neighborhood; she said plaintiff "looked like" the attacker. Is that identification too uncertain for the police to think twice about arresting him? It is not.
- RobberyThe case is Dancy v. McGinley, decided on December. (I handled this appeal along with lead counsel, Christopher Watkins, Esq.). We start with plaintiff Elting, who walking down the street one night in Poughkeepsie with co-plaintiff Dancy, when a police officer, McGinley approached them after hearing about an attempted robbery elsewhere in the city. Dancy was the suspect, not Elting. Elting and Dancy are black. As McGinley approached the plaintiffs, they looked over their shoulder his police car. After McGinley exited his car, Elting called his mother on his cell phone, ignoring McGinley's directive to put it away (the officer thought the phone posed a safety threat and might be used to interfere with the investigation). McGinley then placed his hand on Elting and said Elting then tried to run. They both ended up on the ground, and Elting suffered physical injuries. Elting was charged with Obstructing Governmental Administration.
- Wrongful Termination
- Employment DiscriminationReveyoso v. Town Sports International, 162 A.D.3d 510 (1st Dept. 2018). Also in 2018, after a trial court judge dismissed our clients' sex and age discrimination claims, the First Department reinstated those claims following Stephen Bergstein's oral argument.
- Employment LitigationBenefits disputes As an employee, you have the right to be treated fairly by your employer. If you believe that your employer may have violated the law in its dealings with you, you should contact Bergstein & Ullrich to seek advice from an employment lawyer. We'll meet with you one-on-one to discuss your case and provide you with guidance so that you can take measures to resolve your employment dispute.
- Sexual HarassmentSexual harassment in the workplace is against the law. So is racial harassment and disability harassment. Unlawful harassment includes sexual and racial jokes and pictures in the workplace, demands for sexual favors and offensive comments. If you are subjected to harassment because of your gender, race or disability, your employer is obligated to timely investigate your complaint and make the harassment stop. If your employer does not do this, it is liable for the harassment.
- Land Use and Zoning
- Disability DiscriminationIn 2019, we persuaded the United States Court of Appeals to find that a man can proceed on his disability discrimination case where he alleges he was fired because he needed to take care of his infant daughter, who suffers from a serious disability. This is the first time the Court of Appeals has sustained a claim under the "associational discrimination" provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
- Bankruptcy