Closing out the decade, below we highlight some of the Appellate Division’s leading decisions from the fourth quarter of 2019. We are confident that in the next decade appellate litigation will not subside and that we will continue to rely on the Appellate Division to craft scholarly decisions that maintain the integrity of the law.

First Department

Sexual Assault. Are a plaintiff’s claims that she was raped and sexually assaulted sufficient to allege gender-based animus supporting a claim under the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law (VGM), or must the plaintiff allege additional facts demonstrating some animus against women as a group? In Breest v. Haggis, 2019 N.Y. Slip Op. 09398 (1st Dept. Dec. 26, 2019), the First Department held that gender-based animus is sufficiently pleaded by the nature of the crimes of rape and sexual assault.