Consider this law-school-exam-like scenario: Person goes to hospital, where she is prescribed medication that makes her drowsy (but not told that it will do so). She then, under the influence of the medication, drives and hits plaintiff with her car. Can plaintiff sue the hospital for negligence? These are the (simplified/summarized) facts of the Court…
Read More Court of Appeals: Hospital Owed Duty to Third PartyHere is the NY State court complaint, filed by plaintiff Ashley Chase, against her superintendent (Jose Cedillo) and others. She alleges, among other things, that Cedillo entered her apartment and sniffed her underwear, and that she discovered/caught Cedillo’s actions on video via a smartphone app. Here is the NY Post article about the case.
Read More Lawsuit Against Underwear-Sniffing SuperintendentYou may have heard that Al Sharpton’s daughter Dominique has sued the City of New York for $5 million to recover for injuries allegedly sustained in a trip-and-fall accident. Here’s her April 29, 2015 lawsuit. An article in yesterday’s NY Post noted that Ms. Sharpton “was a no-show [on Dec. 2, 2015] for the first court…
Read More Dominique Sharpton’s “No Show” in Her $5M Personal Injury Case Against the City of New YorkA recent case, Jaquez v. Lind-Ric Hous. Co., 48 Misc. 3d 1204(A), 17 N.Y.S.3d 383 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. June 19, 2015), illustrates the difficulties faced by plaintiffs in slip-and-fall cases, particularly those where the alleged defective condition is not a structural defect or a transitory condition (water, debris, etc) but rather the nature of the…
Read More Slip/Fall on “Slippery” Interior Stairs – Case DismissedIn litigation, the question of “personal jurisdiction” – i.e., whether the court has jurisdiction (power) over the person of the defendant – is arguably the most critical/important: If the court does not have jurisdiction, plaintiff loses without regard to the merits of the case. Stern v. Four Points by Sheraton Ann Arbor Hotel, 2015 NY Slip…
Read More Online Hotel Reservation Insufficient to Establish Personal Jurisdiction in New YorkShawn Bickham just wanted a Coke. He got one from the fridge and started drinking. After he had finished about half the can, he “felt something get caught in his throat” which “felt like something poking and something just stuck, lodged [in his throat].” It turned out that the object was a non-metallic “dried, brittle…
Read More Case Arising From Ingestion of “Dried, Brittle Mass” From Coke Can Survives Summary Judgment Under “Res Ipsa Loquitur” TheoryIn a recent lawsuit, captioned Stagner v. Trader Joe’s, Index # 161608/2015 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. filed Nov. 11, 2015), plaintiff Diana Clair Stagner (and her husband Jerry Lanning) allege that she was injured when, while at the checkout counter with goods at an Upper West Side Trader Joe’s, “[an employee or agent of] Defendant Earlybird…
Read More Personal Injury Lawsuit Against Trader Joe’sIn Fauntleroy v. EMM Group Holdings LLC, the First Department held that plaintiff presented enough evidence to overcome summary judgment on his claims for personal injuries arising from a fight with a security guard hired by one of the defendants. The appellate court unanimously reversed the lower court’s order granting summary judgment to defendants, explaining: Defendants’…
Read More Lawsuit Brought By Plaintiff Punched in Face by Nightclub Security Guard ContinuesTeaching is hard work. In addition to the typical stresses of any job – rude co-workers, overbearing bosses, long hours – teachers are forced to deal with unique challenges, such as physical violence in the classroom. This has been in the news lately; the search results from a Google query for “student attack teacher” are disheartening, to…
Read More Absence of “Special Duty” Results in Dismissal of Injured Teacher’s LawsuitIn Ashton v. EQR Riverside A, LLC, 2015 NY Slip Op 07916 (Oct. 29, 2015), the court affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff’s trip-and-fall case. This case, like many premises liability cases, turned on the critical issue of “notice”. From the decision: It was undisputed that defendants did not have actual or constructive notice of the height differential…
Read More Trip/Fall Case Properly Dismissed; Expert’s Conclusion Was “Speculative”