Appeals Writing Samples
New York Appellate Division, Second Department, Responding Brief. This was a tricky one to write because the motion court’s order—which was in the client’s favor—was totally wrong. I relied on a lesser known appellate doctrine to defend the order despite the motion court’s error. It worked, the Second Department affirmed.
2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, Appellee Brief. Defendant was sued for rescission of a contract for the sale of a piece of art that ended up being a fake. In the motion court, Defendant moved to dismiss the case based upon the doctrine that an art buyer has a duty to investigate a piece of art prior to completing a purchase (which I found while doing research for the defendant). Plaintiff appealed, and I wrote the defending brief. After oral argument, the Second Circuit agreed and denied the appeal.
Appellate Division, Second Department, Appellant’s Brief. An owner of a construction project sued a subcontractor for breach of contract and argued it was the third-party beneficiary of the contract between the general contractor and the subcontractor. The motion court refused to dismiss the claim, despite there being no privity of contract between the owner and the subcontractor. With this brief, which has an interesting summary of the evolution of third-party beneficiary law, we got the order reversed and the claim dismissed.
Appellate Division, First Department, Appellant’s Brief. The servicer failed to send a notice of default to the borrower under the terms of the mortgage. The motion court granted the bank summary judgment despite this fact. On appeal, we convinced the First Department to reverse the motion court’s order and dismiss the complaint.
New York Appellate Division, Second Department, Responding Brief. In this humorous case, Respondent-Defendant explains why he is not liable for defamation for telling his colleagues they have a “Midas broken touch.”
New York Appellate Division, Second Department, Responding Brief. This case involved a breach of contract for the sale of real estate. The seller sold it out from under the buyer. The sellers, and the new buyers, tried to get the original buyer’s complaint dismissed. But they failed for the reasons in the brief.
New York Appellate Division, Second Department, Appellant’s Brief. This appeal involved a private note-holder’s attempt to foreclose a mortgage that was procured by fraud. The client represented herself pro se in the motion court, and her protestations that she did not sign the mortgage being foreclosed were repeatedly ignored. The brief I wrote led to the private note-holder withdrawing the foreclosure action. It’s an interesting set of facts, which you will enjoy reading.
New York Appellate Division, First Department, Criminal Appeal Opening Brief. This is an excerpt of a lengthy brief seeking a new trial based upon numerous errors committed by the prosecution. I don’t handle criminal appeals, I’m including it here because it was the first appeal brief I ever wrote!
