Demanding documents pursuant to New York State's Freedom of Information Law The New York's Freedom of Information Law [FOIL] requiring that documents requested pursuant Public Officers Law §89(3)(a) be "reasonably described" serves to enable an agency to locate and identify records in question and places the initial burden on the person or entity making a FOIL request to provide a reasonable description of the record[s] sought for this purpose. In the event the custodian of the record denies a FOIL request on this ground, the custodian bears the burden of establishing that the description[s] were insufficient for purposes of locating and identifying the document[s] sought. Click on the URL below to access this decision posted on the Internet: https://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2023/2023_00015.htm

 

 

Selected judicial and quasi-judicial decisions issued during the week ending January 7, 2023

Statute of limitations to initiate a §75 disciplinary action

Disciplinary proceedings brought under §75 of the Civil Service Law must generally be commenced within 18 months after the alleged misconduct occurred. A statutory exception, however, provides that the 18-month limitations period is inapplicable when the misconduct "would, if proved in a court of appropriate jurisdiction, constitute a crime". Click on the URL below to access this decision posted on the Internet: 

https://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2023/2023_00021.htm

Entities bringing a claim on behalf of its members

An organization such as a union wishing to file a claim on behalf of its members must [1] establish that it has organizational standing to bring such claim; [2] show that at least one of its members would have standing to sue; [3] that it is representative of the organizational purposes it asserts; and [4] that the case would not require the participation of individual members. Click on the URL below to access this decision posted on the Internet: 

https://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2022/2022_07484.htm

Substantial evidence

Substantial evidence is "a minimal standard that requires less than a preponderance of the evidence and demands only the existence of a rational basis in the record as a whole to support the findings upon which the determination is based" (see Matter of Blamah v New York Off. of the State Comptroller, 207 AD3d 905. Click on the URL below to access this decision posted on the Internet: 

https://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2023/2023_00021.htm