In this column, we discuss an appeal concerning the effect of Section 627-a of the General Business Law. The court found that, while the statute requires health clubs to maintain defibrillators, it did not create an inherent duty to use the device when a gym member is in cardiac distress. We also cover a case in which the court found that a $10,000 payment to a fact witness in connection with his appearance at trial did not require the exclusion of his testimony. Finally, we address an appeal in which the court determined that a sentencing judge was not required to inform a criminal defendant that, as a repeat felony offender, his sentence would be served consecutively to a previously imposed sentence for other crimes.
Before we discuss these cases, we note that on Feb. 12, 2013, just one day after her confirmation, Judge Jenny Rivera assumed her seat on the Court of Appeals and began hearing argument. It appears that, before Rivera’s arrival, during the period in which the court was sitting as a five-judge bench, there was only one matter in which the court was unable to assemble a majority of four votes to bring about a decision. That case is scheduled for reargument on May 2 when it is expected the court will be back to its full seven member complement. The task of actually naming the remaining new justice began when the Commission on Judicial Nomination, chaired by Former Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, provided the Governor with a list of seven potential candidates to succeed Judge Theodore Jones Jr. This appointment will complete the court.
