New York Paralegal Blog

A former New York City Board of Elections employee and Bronx district leader, Nicole Torres, has been sentenced to two years in prison for her involvement in two schemes that corrupted the city’s election process. Torres had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion and mail fraud. Extortion and Fraud: A Betrayal of Public Trust From 2016 to 2024, Nicole Torres used her position at the NYC-BOE to exploit her power, engaging in two different illegal schemes. Torres was responsible for ensuring poll workers were paid for their work, a role she abused for personal gain. First, from 2019 to 2024, Torres extorted Bronx residents, demanding payments in exchange for selecting them as poll workers. The payments, usually $150, were made to either Torres directly or to a local organization. Torres personally pocketed at least $28,000 from this scheme, even altering the payee on checks and money orders to deposit the funds into her personal account. The second scheme...

Ever heard the saying "the buck stops here"? Well, in the legal world, sometimes the "buck" doesn't just stop with the person who directly caused a problem. That's where a fancy-sounding legal term called "respondeat superior" comes into play. Don't let the Latin scare you off! It's actually a pretty straightforward idea that affects everyday life. Simply put, respondeat superior basically means that an employer can be held responsible for the actions of their employees, as long as those actions happened while the employee was doing their job. Think of it this way: imagine a delivery driver, speeding to get packages out on time, accidentally causes a car accident. While the driver is certainly responsible for their actions, the company they work for could also be held liable. Why? Because the driver was working for the company, doing their job, when the accident occurred. It's all about the "scope of employment." This is the ...

Grove City, OH – A Delaware-based company, Fabcon Precast LLC, has been sentenced to pay the maximum statutory fine of $500,000 after pleading guilty to a willful violation of federal workplace safety standards that led to the death of an employee. The sentencing, handed down in a federal court, also includes two years of organizational probation and the implementation of a comprehensive Safety Compliance Plan. The case stems from a tragic incident on June 6, 2020, at Fabcon's Grove City, Ohio, manufacturing facility. Zachary Ledbetter, a batch operator, was fatally injured when a pneumatic door on a concrete mixer closed on his head. According to court documents, a critical safety feature on the mixer, an exhaust valve designed to release pneumatic pressure and render the door inoperable during cleaning and maintenance, was broken. The handle for this valve had been missing for some time and was never replaced by the company. On the day of the incident, Mr. Ledbetter was attempti...

  See Updated Story! Manhattan District AtSee Updated Story!torney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced charges against DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN, 62, for the sexual assault of a maid at the Sofitel New York hotel on West 44th Street. The defendant is charged with two counts of Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree, one count of Attempted Rape in the First Degree, one count of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, one count of Unlawful Imprisonment in the Second Degree, one count of Forcible Touching, and one count of Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree. The top charge, Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree, is a class B violent Felony, carrying with it a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Melissa C. Jackson remanded the defendant. The next court date is May 20, 2011. According to the criminal complaint filed by the District Attorney, STRAUSS-KAHN shut the door his hotel room, thereby preventing the victim, a member of the hotel’s cleaning staff, fr...

CLEVELAND -- Eclipse Advantage, Inc., a transportation, logistics and distribution management company, will pay $60,000 to settle a racial harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. In its lawsuit, the EEOC alleged that the company violated federal law by subjecting Rodney Williams, an African-American employee, to racial discrimination and retaliation at its Aldi Food Service warehouse in Hinckley, Ohio. Racial discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit, No. 1:10-cv-02001, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement. In addition to the monetary relief for the discrimination victim, the two-year consent decree settling the suit provides for training of all management staff on employee rights and employer obligations under Title VII with a special emphasis on har...

MILWAUKEE, Wis. – HCS Medical Staffing, Inc. violated federal law by discriminating against a pregnant employee and then firing her while she was on maternity leave, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed here today. According to the EEOC’s suit, (EEOC v. HCS Medical Staffing, Inc., Case No. 2:11-cv-00402), filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Charles Sisson, owner of the Milwaukee medical staffing company, engaged in escalating negative comments about the upcoming maternity leave of HCS bookkeeper Roxy Leger. Sisson’s statements allegedly included insisting that Leger’s pregnancy was a joke, describing her maternity leave as “vacation,” and insisting that maternity leave should be no longer than two days. The EEOC contends that Sisson then terminated Leger, who had no prior negative comments on her work performance, seven days after she gave birth as she recovered from the delivery of her baby by Caesarean ...

ALBANY, N.Y. (October 6, 2008) – Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced a settlement agreement with a retired Saint Lawrence County Attorney who was improperly listed as an employee of four public sector entities, including the Village of Canton, the Saint Lawrence-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services (“BOCES”), the Colton Pierrepont School District, and the Lisbon Central School District. John D. Elmer retired in January 1998 and began receiving a small annual pension through the New York State Employees’ Retirement Fund (“ERS”). Under the settlement, Elmer will pay the State of New York $42,000, will cease receiving state-funded pension benefits of any kind, and will forfeit any claims to monetary contributions he may have made to ERS in connection with his purported “employments.” At various times between 1974 and 1998, Elmer was listed as an employee of four public sector entities: the Village of Canton (1974 to 1980), Saint Lawrence-Lewis BOCES (1974 to 1998)...