Melito & Adolfsen P.C. Legal Articles
Terrorism, “sting” operations, prisoner swaps and Brittney Griner
…the case of Ali Fayad is a model for a prisoner swap of Brittney Greiner, a US basketball player, for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer — two people, who had nothing whatsoever to do with each other, now somehow have become especially important in each other’s lives.
Investigating and Defending Nurse Homes in Cases of Severe Pressure Ulcers
When a resident of a nursing home suffers from severe pressure ulcers any claim against the facility may initially seem indefensible. But careful evaluation of the record may very well show that not to be the case. If there was a well thought out care plan followed...
The Johnny Depp and Amber Heard Case Show the Importance of Special Verdicts or Answers to Written Questions in Jury Verdicts
The defamation cases brought by Johnny Depp and Amber Heard against each other, entertaining as they were to many Americans, involved complex issues of law as applied to the facts alleged by the parties……Without these answers, a court could not properly review the verdicts.
Requesting a special verdict in one case may may help win the case and then be used in a related to achieve another win
If you own a restaurant in New York and you can show that your landlord harrassed you, Covid-19 may relieve your obligations to pay rent
COVID-19 has caused many restaurants in the City of New York to close or greatly limit their service, preventing them from paying some or any of the rent to their landlords. In a case involving a restaurant on the upper east side of manhattan, a Judge denied summmary...
What Does Marty Ginsburg Have to Say? A Little Story About the Husband of Notorious RBG
Many years ago, as a young lawyer, I worked at a law firm which still exists today, Roberts & Holland LLP. The firm specialized in taxation and one of the senior partners, Sidney Roberts, was known all around the world for his treatise, written with William C....
The Insurance Industry Anticipated a Pandemic from a virus like Covid-19 more than a decade ago.
By: Louis G. Adolfsen For businesses that were shut down by COVID-19 a common question is whether there is coverage for business interruption. In New York, the answer is no. This should be the answer nationwide. Coverage for business interruption requires property...
The Tenth Amendment and the Resurrection of States’ Rights in the Age of Coronavirus
"Whatever the outer limits of that sovereignty may be, one thing is clear: The Federal Government may not compel the States to enact or administer a federal regulatory program." New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144, 188, 112 S. Ct. 2408, 2435, 120 L. Ed. 2d 120...
Understanding What Needs to be Proved to Show Medical Malpractice, Negligence, or Violation of The Public Health Law in a Nursing Home Case
By: Louis G. Adolfsen, Esq., Robert D. Ely, Esq. and Michael Panayotou, Esq. In a case against a nursing home alleging bodily injury or personal injury, it is common to allege three causes of action. The first is medical malpractice. The second is negligence. And the...
An Out-of-Possession Landlord Cannot Avoid Liability for a Fall on Snow and Ice Under a Statute Imposing Liability on an Owner Even If the Owner Delegated Responsibility for Maintaining the Property to the Tenant
By: Louis G. Adolfsen and Michael F. PanayotouIn Xiang Fu He v. Troon Management, Inc., et al. decided on October 24, 2019, the New York Court of Appeals held that section 7-210 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York "unambiguously imposes a nondelegable...
Impeachment – Did President Trump, Unwittingly, “Secretly” Record Himself and Prove His Conduct Was Malum In Se
Many commentators have noted that proving that a President committed "high crimes and misdemeanors" is not the same as proving that the President committed a crime. The history of the drafting of the Constitution shows that the phrase "High Crimes and Misdemeanors"...