Citing the public trust doctrine, the Appellate Division sustained the issuance of a preliminary injunction against the non-park use of alleged parkland, despite the fact that the use of the property for non-park purposes dates to 1946. In
A court held that documents exchanged between the EPA and the New York DEC may be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) as inter-agency communications, but additional documents exchanged as part of the settlement negotiations with General Electric are subject to disclosure. In Town of Waterford…
The Appellate Division concluded that the context in which a menorah was displayed was not an unconstitutional endorsement of religion but that the nightly lighting of the menorah by municipal employees, even if the cost is reimbursed, violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In…
The New York Legislature has adopted several amendments to portions of New York’s Open Meetings Law (sections 103 and 107 of the Public Officers Law) in order to provide for more transparency in the conduct of governmental activities, as set forth in three recently adopted chapters. Chapter 40 took effect…
In an action brought to prevent prosecution of members of an Indian nation for failure to collect cigarette sales taxes on sale to non-members of the nation, the Court of Appeals issued judgment in favor of the plaintiffs. In Cayuga Indian Nation v. Cayuga County Sheriff, the court noted that…
An appellate court held that a zoning board’s failure to comply with the “precise requirements” of the open meetings law did not rise to a level which required that the matter be remanded for further action in public. In Matter of Cunney v. Board of Trustees of the Village of…
The First Department upheld a $250,000 penalty imposed by the DEC. In Matter of Longwood Assoc., LLC v New York State Dept. of Envtl. Conservation, the court held that the penalty imposed for placing an unregistered 2000 gallon petroleum bulk storage tank in violation of the Environmental Conservation Law and…
In the Matter of Harris Bay Yacht Club, Inc. v. The Town of Queensbury the Appellate Division, Third Department found that the town assessor had acted illegally when, after a town wide reassessment in 2005, the Yacht Club was singled out for a further reassessment in 2006 and again in…
The New York Appellate Division, Second Department, in Matter of Baker v Village of Elmsford has unanimously held that the Village of Elmsford may not demap and discontinue portions of Vreeland Avenue and River Street unless the Village Board determines the streets are useless and it takes a hard look…
The New York Court of Appeals upheld the decision of the Appellate Division requiring release of documents by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), despite a claim by ESDC that the documents are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). In a rebuke to procedures followed by…