Every first-year law student reads the case of Palsgraf v Long Is. R.R. Co., 248 NY 339 [1928], arguably the leading case in New York on the issue of whether a defendant had a duty to plaintiff in a negligence case. In Gonzalez v. City of New York, 2015 Slip NY Slip Op 06869 (App. Div.…
Read More Court Reinstates Negligence Claims Against City Arising From Fatal Shooting By Off-Duty OfficerIn O’Brien v. Port Auth. of N.Y. & N.J. (App. Div. 1st Dept. Sept. 8, 2015), the Appellate Division, First Department held that plaintiff – an operating engineer at the World Trade Center Freedom Tower construction site – was entitled to summary judgment on his claim under Labor Law § 240(1). Plaintiff was injured when he “slipped…
Read More WTC Worker Who Fell Down Stairway Entitled to Summary Judgment on Labor Law § 240(1) ClaimFrom Gyabaah v Rivlab Transp. Corp., 2015 NY Slip Op 04741 [129 AD3d 447] (App. Div. 1st Dept. June 4, 2015): Plaintiff made a prima facie showing of her entitlement to judgment as a matter of law on the issue of liability by submitting her affidavit stating that the yellow school bus owned by defendant Rivlab Transportation Corp. struck…
Read More Pedestrian Gets Summary Judgment in Knockdown CaseIn Emmanuel B. v. City of New York, 2015 NY Slip Op 06750 (App. Div. 1st Dept. Sept. 8, 2015), the First Department affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint seeking damages for personal injuries sustained in an alleged school bullying incident. Here are the facts of this personal injury case, as summarized by the court: The…
Read More School Bullying Personal Injury Case DismissedIn Caceres v. Standard Realty Assoc., Inc. (App. Div. 1st Dept. Aug. 25, 2015), plaintiff worker was injured when he fell from a ladder. The appellate court reversed the lower court and granted plaintiff summary judgment on liability on his claim under New York Labor Law § 240(1) (the so-called “scaffold law”). Here are the facts…
Read More Fall From A-Frame Ladder; Plaintiff Gets Summary Judgment on Labor Law § 240(1) ClaimHere is the complaint, captioned Ekberg v. City of New York (NY Sup. Ct., NY Cty., Index # 158642/2015, filed 8/20/15) in which plaintiff alleges that she was injured after being bitten by a NYPD horse while on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. (I’m very curious to know why, in 2015, large animals with teeth are present in…
Read More Lawsuit: Bitten by Police HorseDog-bite injuries can be serious and in some cases deadly. If it happens to you, can you (successfully) sue under New York law for damages? It depends. Unlike in other types of personal injury cases, a person injured by a domestic animal (e.g., a dog) may not proceed on a theory of negligence. Rather, under…
Read More Who’s a Bad Boy? “Vicious Propensities” and New York Dog Bite LawIn Shenkelbakh v. Riera (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Qns. Cty Aug. 17, 2015), a personal injury bicycle accident case, plaintiff bicyclist sued after being hit by defendant driver. The jury returned a verdict in defendant’s favor, and absolved defendant of liability. The court granted plaintiff’s CPLR 4404(a) motion to set aside the jury verdict. Here are the undisputed facts,…
Read More Injured Bicyclist Wins New Trial on LiabilityIn Pena v. Penny Lane Realty Inc., “[p]laintiff, a resident in defendant’s building, claimed that she was robbed at gunpoint and assaulted in the lobby as she was leaving for work. She alleged that the assailant gained access to the premises as a result of a malfunctioning lock on one of the entryway doors.” The…
Read More Defective Lock, Assaulted/Robbed TenantIn Torres v. Nine-O-Seven Holding Corp., the court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s sidewalk trip-and-fall case. After examination of the photographs and the other evidence presented in the record, including plaintiff’s deposition testimony, and considering all the relevant factors, this Court finds that as a matter of law the alleged defect in the…
Read More Trip-and-Fall Case Dismissed; Sidewalk Defect Was “Trivial” as a Matter of Law