The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department affirmed a trial court’s order denying the defendants’ motion for summary judgment in a personal injury case involving horseplay in a pool at a party. The defendants hosted a party at their house. Around 1:00 a.m., the plaintiff joined some others in the pool. The pool was above-ground […]
Slip And Falls
Plaintiff Granted Partial Summary Judgment in Labor Law 240 Case
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department granted partial summary judgment to the plaintiff in a ladder / elevation case under Labor Law 240. The plaintiff was an electrician for Atlas-Acon Electric Service who was working on NBC property in New York City. The plaintiff ascended an A-frame ladder in order to replace the ballasts […]
NY Landlord Liable for Corroded and Dilapidated Stairs
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department affirmed a trial court’s order denying summary judgment to a landlord sued by his renter after a nasty fall down the stairs. The plaintiff lived in a duplex owned by the defendant landlord. A set of exterior metal stairs at the building led to the front entrance. […]
Second Department Rules in Favor of Defendant School in Falling Debris Case
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department reversed a trial court order that denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss in a personal injury case involving falling debris. The plaintiff was a teenage student at Locust Valley High School at the time of the accident. The plaintiff volunteered with the high school’s stage crew. On the […]
Property Owners May Still Be Liable For Injuries Caused By “Open & Obvious” Condition
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed a trial court order denying a school district defendant’s motion for summary judgment after the plaintiff tripped over a pole vault box and sustained injuries. In 2010, the plaintiff went to Longwood High School to watch her niece’s softball game. While walking across a field at […]
Injury Law Report: Fall Case Dismissed By Second Department
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department reversed a Trial Court’s order denying the defendant’s motion for summary judgment in a slip-and-fall bathroom case. The plaintiff was a frequent visitor at the Yonkers Racing Association. She had used the bathroom at the facility many times in the past. On the day of the accident, […]
Plaintiff Slip and Fall Case Dismissed for Testifying She Fell at Wrong Location
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department dismissed a personal injury case against a building owner and Chinese restaurant when the plaintiff mistakenly sued the wrong entity. While walking down the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn, the plaintiff tripped over a cellar door and fell, sustaining injuries. She brought a personal injury suit against […]
New Trial Ordered By Second Department In Slip & Fall: Closing Arguments Found Prejudicial
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department ordered a new trial in a slip-and-fall accident case after the plaintiff’s lawyers made prejudicial comments in the closing argument before the jury. The plaintiff slipped and fell while shopping at the defendant’s supermarket. After falling and sustaining injuries, she was taken to the hospital. While in the […]
Personal Injury Attorney Report: Landowners Have a Duty to Prevent Foreseeable Crimes from Occurring to Guests on Property
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department reversed a trial court order that denied summary judgment to two landlords of a restaurant whose employees attacked the plaintiff. One day, the plaintiff was walking down the sidewalk of New Utrecht Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. There is a restaurant that spans 6010 and 6012 New […]
Defendant Landlord Failed to Establish It Was Not Responsible for Fall in Premises Liability Case
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department reversed a trial court order that granted summary judgment to a defendant property owner in a slip-and-fall case that happened in a New York apartment. In 2010, the victim, now deceased, was walking through his apartment when he tripped on the wood floor and fell. He sustained […]
Appellate Division, First Department Holds City of New York May Be Liable for Icy Slip-and-Fall
The Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, First Department has reversed an order issued by the Supreme Court for New York County that granted the City of New York’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed the plaintiff’s complaint that an icy patch caused her to fall and injure herself. On December 23, 2008, the […]
Appellate Court Holds School Not Liable for Snowy Slip-and-Fall
The Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department reversed an order by the Supreme Court of Erie County that denied a school’s motion for summary judgment in a slip-and-fall case. Gilbert & Gilbert v. Tonawanda City School District and Mullen Elementary School, 1274 CA 14-01026 (Jan. 2, 2015) Midday on January […]
Diving Board Liability and the Assumption of Risk
This post discusses a personal injury concept that, while at times confusing, often plays an integral role in determining liability: assumption of risk. Assumption of risk is a defense in a personal injury action in which a defendant claims that the plaintiff voluntarily undertook an activity with the knowledge that there is an inherent danger […]
New York Personal Injury: Who Owes a Duty?
As we’ve discussed before on this blog, personal injury liability is determined in a manner that (in theory at least) resembles a checklist. Did the defendant owe a duty to the plaintiff? Check. Did the defendant breach that duty? Check. Did the breach of that duty cause harm to the plaintiff? Check. Duty, breach, causation, and harm: […]
Liability for Sidewalk Accidents: Continued
In a previous post, we went over the laws governing which party is liable when a plaintiff trips and falls on a defective sidewalk in the City of New York. Brief review: NYC’s Sidewalk Law places liability on “abutting” property owners – those who own the land next to that portion of the sidewalk – with exceptions […]
Determining Liability in a Sidewalk Trip and Fall
Who owns the sidewalks of New York City? Usually, the City does, and based on that you might be tempted to assume that any injuries resulting from defects of those sidewalks – cracks and crevices and the like – would be the fault and responsibility of the City. You’d be wrong! And the reason you’d […]
Second Department Allows “Expert” Testimony in Brooklyn Slip and Fall Action
On September, 24 the Supreme Court, Appellate Division Second Department overturned a decision by the Supreme Court, Kings County which granted a motion made by the defendants in that case for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to CPLR 4401. CPLR 4401 allows either party to ask for a judgment as a matter of […]
Hospital Not Responsible For Slip and Fall When It Did Not Cause And Had No Notice Of The Danger
Cassondra Williams sued the County of Erie and Erie County Medical Center Corporation after she slipped and fell in a corridor of the Erie County Medical Center while at work. Williams worked for a company that provided food service to the hospital and the corridor in which she fell was used primarily by her employer to delivery […]
Court: Empty Dolly May Create Unsafe Condition When Left Unattended in Store Aisle
In Russo v Home Goods, Inc. the defendant Home Goods, Inc. was accused of creating a tripping hazard by leaving an empty dolly, otherwise known as a “pallet jack” in the aisle of its store. The Appellate Division, Second Department reversed the Supreme Court’s finding of summary judgment for the defendant, ruling that a triable issue of […]
A Closer Look at a Slip and Fall Action
Slip and fall cases are fairly common in the personal injury litigation world. That does not make them simple or easy, however. A recent slip and fall decision by the Appellate Division, Second Department, can help to detail what it takes to litigate- and win – a slip and fall action. In Francis v. Super Clean Laundromat […]
What Constitutes a “Trivial” Defect in N.Y. Personal Injury Cases?
In May, the Appellate Division, Second Department clarifyied an issue of law that should be of interest to property owners. Put simply: when someone injures himself or herself on another’s property, how liable is the property owner? The case of Grundstrom v. Papadopoulos stemmed from an incident that occurred 2008. Plaintiff, Josephine Grundstrom, tripped and […]
Investigators: New Hartford House Fire that Claimed Three Young Lives Caused by Failed Electrical Appliance
According to the New Hartford Fire Department and the New Hartford Police Department, a February 2014 house fire in upstate New York that claimed the lives of two brothers, ages three and seven, and a 21-year-old woman was caused by an electrical appliance that appears to have failed. The failed appliance was along the outside […]
Five Injured after Jersey City Escalator Abruptly Reverses Direction
Five people were injured in an escalator accident in January 2013 at the Exchange Place PATH station in Jersey City, New Jersey after an ascending escalator abruptly reversed its direction during rush hour. According to a Port Authority spokesman, the five people suffered non-life-threatening injuries that consisted mostly of bumps, scrapes and bruises. However, some […]
‘Bug Bomb’ Explosion in Chinatown Building Leaves Three Critically Injured
Eight people were injured, three of them critically, after an explosion in July 2013 ripped through a five-story tenement building on Pike Street in Chinatown. According to law enforcement officials, the explosion, which also resulted in a fire, was caused by the misuse of aerosol insecticide foggers. The foggers, often referred to as “bug bombs,” […]
First Department Rules Defendant Failed to Meet Burden for Summary Judgment in Bronx Slip and Fall
Earlier this week the Supreme Court Appellate Division, First Department ruled that the defendant had not met its prima facie burden for an award of summary judgment in a Bronx slip and fall case. The fall occurred at the Bronx Zoo, where the plaintiff allegedly slipped on a patch of ice outside a restaurant within […]