In perhaps one of the more disappointing decisions I have read in awhile, the New York Court of Appeals handed down its decisions today in Balbuena v. IDR Realty LLC and Majlinger v. Cassino Contracting Corp.  In these appeals, the Court held that illegal aliens are not precluded from seeking and recovering future lost wages in personal injury litigation based on violations of a defendant’s purported violation of the Labor Law, even in light of the Federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and  Hoffman Plastic v. Nat’l Labor Relations Bd.

For a complete background of these appeals see the following posts: here, here, here, here, and here.

In his dissenting opinion, Judge R. Smith aptly picks up on the gaps in the Majority’s holding that an illegal alien can recover lost wages and that a defendant can present the plaintiff’s illegal status to the jury.  The disappointing aspect of the Majority’s opinion is its broad application to future cases, while simultaneously disposing of an important issue — the plaintiff’s inability to mitigate damages — based on the unique facts of these particular appeals.

It will be extremely interesting to see how future cases will handle the mitigation of damages issue.

Here are some early reports on the decision: this article from The Journal News and this article from 1010 Wins.com.