It seems to me that the employment setting has become, to a remarkable degree, a kind of civics classroom in which our citizenry is introduced to and schooled in the promise of a diverse people living in harmony. Anti-harassment policies, diversity goals, EEO training are all classes in the curriculum of an enlightened citizenry. The unenlightened often cross our path on the road to their biased actions in the workplace.
Consider the following situation: an employee anticipates that his employment is about to be terminated, for what he believes to be discriminatory or otherwise unlawful reasons. After consulting with an attorney, he decides to tape-record conversations with his supervisors, in the hopes of recording a "smoking gun" comment. A short time later, the employee is terminated, and he later commences litigation in federal court against his employer. In that lawsuit, is the employer entitled to obtain copies of the tape recordings through discovery, or are the recordings protected as work product because they were made in anticipation of litigation? If the recordings are discoverable, is the employee nonetheless entitled to withhold producing them until after his supervisor has been deposed?
A comprehensive list of key cases discussed in this issue.
Ten's Cabaret, Inc. v. City of New York, decided last month (NYLJ 9/16/03, p. 18, col. 1), represents the latest skirmish in the long-term battle between the City of New York and owners of adult establishments over the city's efforts to regulate the location (and ultimately the number) of adult uses in the city. In Ten's Cabaret, Justice York of New York County Supreme Court held that the city's 2001 amendment to its zoning resolution &mdash enacted to counteract evasion of the provisions in the then-existing ordinance &mdash failed to pass constitutional muster because the city had not conducted any studies to demonstrate the need for the amendment.
Recent decisions of importance to you and your practice.
Recent decisions of importance to you and your practice.
Recent decisions of importance to you and your practice.
Recent rulings of importance to your practice.
Stock options became a large part of many marital estates involved in marriage dissolution during the "bubble" of the late 1990s. As one would expect, the courts struggled with the issues this new situation presented, primarily what options were to be included in the marital estate.
A child who is too young to testify against her alleged abuser may speak through her mother, under an unusual application of an exception to the hearsay rule. A judge in upstate New York has ruled that the mother of a 3-year-old girl can testify about what the child told her in complaining that the mother's boyfriend had fondled her. The child had awakened her mother to tell her of the assault.
