Below are a list of some of the recent appeals in which Cynthia Feathers wrote the brief for the prevailing party and, in most cases, also orally argued the appeal.

CRIMINAL CASES

People v. Marcos Fernandez, 17 NY3d 70
New York’s highest court held, for the first time, that an extended family can constitute a community for the purposes of reputation evidence of a key prosecution witness. The client won the right to a new trial.
http://www.nycourts.gov/ctapps/Decisions/2011/Jun11/100opn11.pdf

MATRIMONIAL CASES

Smith v. Smith, ___ AD3d ___ (Jan. 12, 2012)
The court held that a substantial downward modification in support had been properly granted to a father who suffered serious injuries in a motor vehicle accident that severely limited his ability to resume his veterinary practice, and that a large personal injury settlement did not provide a basis to vary from the new presumptively correct amount of support, where the father had used much of the settlement to pay support arrears. http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/ad3/Decisions/2012/512325.pdf

O’Connor v. O’Connor, ___ AD3d ___ (Jan. 12, 2012)
The court upheld maintenance of $1,000 a month until the wife, age 50, was eligible for Social Security retirement benefits, where she had sacrificed her career to raise the children, worked as a school aide for modest earnings, and would need considerable education updating to support herself, and where the husband could make significant income if he worked available overtime. Partial trial counsel fees of $7,500 and appellate counsel fees of $9,000 were upheld as proper exercises of discretion under the statute then in effect.
http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/ad3/Decisions/2012/512896.pdf

St. Louis v. St. Louis, 86 AD3d 706
The court held that the parties’ child support stipulation deviated from the Child Support Standards Act by not taking into account maintenance, which was subsequently ordered by the trial court, and thus the client achieved vacatur of the stipulation and a remand for redetermination of child support. Further, the duration of maintenance to the wife was found excessive and was reduced, where she was age 36, had had at least a part-time career, and had not proven that she had health problems affecting employment.
http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/ad3/Decisions/2011/511919.pdf

Bellizzi v. Bellizzi, 82 AD3d 1541
The court held that dismissal of the husband’s divorce action did not divest Supreme Court of subject matter jurisdiction to consider the client’s application for spousal support. The matter was remitted so that she could seek to recover two years’ retroactive support, as well as prospective relief.
http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/ad3/decisions/2011/509903.pdf

Bowman v. Bowman, 82 AD3d 144
A New York appellate court held, for the first time, that the Federal Full Faith and Credit for Child Support Act preempted a provision of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act; and it thus permitted the pro bono client, a New York resident, to modify in this state a Washington state support order against the father, a resident of California.
http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/ad3/decisions/2011/510386.pdf

Davis-Taylor v. Davis-Taylor, 79 AD3d 1312
The court held that the failure to comply with a child support order was not willful where the payor’s business failed during the 2008 economic downtown and he diligently pursued other job opportunities, yet suffered a dramatic decline in income.
http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/ad3/decisions/2010/508489.pdf

Smith v. Smith, 75 AD3d 784
The court held that a stipulation of settlement made in open court during divorce proceedings reflected the parties’ intent that all accounts to be divided were to be distributed by Domestic Relations Orders, and the client’s claim to a one-half interest in the husband’s individual IRA account was not released by a later contract.
http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/ad3/decisions/2010/507829.pdf

PERSONAL INJURY CASES

Georgia v. Urbanski, 84 AD3d 1569
The court sustained a finding that the client was entitled to a trial to defend against the Scaffold Law claim of a construction worker, since there were issues of fact about whether his own actions in placing a ladder on an icy surface were the sole proximate cause of his injuries.
http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/ad3/decisions/2011/511160.pdf

Cullin v. Makely, 80 AD2d 1042
The court sustained a finding that the client, a defendant in a Scaffold Law case, was entitled to indemnification or contribution as a matter of law from the third-party defendant-employer, where the record demonstrated that the plaintiff-employee sustained a grave injury in a work-related accident.
http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/ad3/decisions/2011/509917.pdf

Alexander v. St. Mary’s Institute, 78 AD3d 1475
The court reversed the grant of summary judgment dismissing the complaint, and the client won the right to a trial, where there were issues of fact about whether the landowner had notice of a chronic, readily observable icy condition and failed to exercise reasonable care.
http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/ad3/decisions/2010/510014.pdf

Bush v. Mechanicville Warehouse Corp., 79 AD3d 1327
In a case involving Workers’ Compensation Law, the court modified a judgment based on the client-employer’s argument that there was no written contract pursuant to which the employer expressly agreed to indemnify the landowner-defendant.
http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/ad3/decisions/2010/509442.pdf

OTHER CIVIL CASES

Matter of Jonathan EE., 86 AD3d 697
A New York appellate court held, for the first time, that SCPA Article 17-A did not authorize payment of guardian fees for a developmentally disabled person. The client won the ability to protect a supplemental needs trust from invasion for payment of such fees.
http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/ad3/Decisions/2011/511715.pdf

Lewis Family Farm v. Adirondack Park Agency, 64 AD3d 1009
A New York appellate court held, for the first time, that farm worker housing units were agricultural use structures, exempt from APA regulation. The client was New York Farm Bureau, which appeared as amicus curiae in support of the Lewis Family Farm.
http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/ad3/decisions/2009/504626.pdf

In addition to such appellate victories, Ms. Feathers has helped many appellate clients negotiate favorable settlements and has helped many trial attorneys in preparing successful, dispositive trial motions.