Some judges get it wrong. That what the Court of Appeals is for. We handle appeals in the state and federal courts. Stephen Bergstein, Esq., has briefed and/or argued more than 250 appeals in New York, including the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, each of the state appellate divisions and the New York State Court of Appeals. Many of our cases have become important precedents and are cited regularly by other courts. If you have a case that was improperly dismissed, call us to discuss your appellate options.
Lawyers from around New York State have asked our firm to help uphold their jury verdicts. In Sooroojballie v. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, 816 Fed. Appx. 536 (2d Cir. 2020), we assisted in protecting a jury verdict in favor of an employee who suffered discrimination and retaliation on the basis of his national origin. In Tulino v. City of New York, 2019 WL 3810975 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 1 2019), we protected a sexual harassment and retaliation verdict, successfully arguing that plaintiff's pain and suffering exceeded $1 million. In Duarte v. St. Barnabas Hospital, 2018 WL 4440501 (S.D.N.Y. 2017), we assisted in repelling a post-trial motion to overturn a verdict finding that a woman suffered a hostile work environment on the basis of her hearing impairment. Also in 2018, we helped to preserve a racial discrimination verdict in the Southern District of New York, Lewis v. American Sugar Refining, 325 F. Supp. 3d 321 (S.D.N.Y. 2018). And, that year, after a trial judge threw out a verdict in favor of a disabled woman who was denied a reasonable accommodation at a New York City health club, we persuaded the Appellate Division to reinstate the verdict. Reveyoso v. Town Sports International, 162 A.D.3d 510 (1st Dept. 2018). Also in 2018, after a trial court judge dismissed our clients' sex and age discrimination claims, the First Department reinstated those claims following Stephen Bergstein's oral argument. Boliak v. Reilly, 161 A.D.3d 625 (1st Dept. 2018).
Other recent, significant appellate victories include Grant v. Lockett, 2021 WL 5816245 (2d Cir. 2021), where the Court of Appeals upheld a police brutality verdict that produced a verdict in the amount of $1.6 million against the City of Syracuse. Another appellate victory in 2021 was Edwards v Quiros, 986 F.3d 187 (2d Cir. 2021), where the trial court vacated (or dismissed) a jury verdict in favor of an inmate who was denied exercise in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The Court of Appeals reinstated the verdict following Stephen Bergstein's oral argument. In Rasmy v. Marriott International, Inc., 952 F.3d 379 (2d Cir. 2020), which reinstated a racial harassment and retaliation claim that the trial court had dismissed on the employer's motion for summary judgment. In Kelleher v. Fred A. Cook, Inc,, 939 F.3d 465 (2d Cir. 2019), we persuaded the U.S. Court of Appeals to reinstate an "associational discrimination" claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act, on behalf of our client, who alleged he was terminated from his position because he had to care for his disabled daughter. In Chauca v. Abraham, 885 F.3d 122 (2d Cir. 2018) and 30 N.Y.3d 325 (2017), in which the New York Court of Appeals interpreted the New York City Human Rights Law to provide for punitive damages under a more plaintiff-friendly legal standard. And, in Zarda v. Altitude Express, 883 F.3d 100 (2d Cir. 2018), we assisted in convincing the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that sexual orientation discrimination is a form of gender discrimination under the federal civil rights laws. This landmark ruling represented only the second time that a federal appeals court interpreted federal law this way. The Supreme Court agreed with our position in a landmark decision, Bostock v. Clayton County, 140 S. Ct. 1731 (2020), which involved three cases, including Zarda.