My bodega, Village Farm & Grocery – where I’ve gotten my paper on my way to the subway for the past 10+ years – used to have a sweet, cow-colored cat named “Princess” who, in my experience, was nothing like the “opossum-like” monster described in Napolitano v. Alshaebi. Here are the facts of that case,…
Read More Bodega Cat-Attack Suit DismissedIn Amador v. City of New York, decided August 13, 2014, the Appellate Division, Second Department explained: A rear-end collision with a stopped or stopping vehicle establishes a prima facie case of negligence on the part of the operator of the rear vehicle, thereby requiring that operator to rebut the inference of negligence by providing a…
Read More Rear-Ended Plaintiff Not Entitled to Summary Judgment in Car Accident CaseIn an Order issued on August 12, 2014 in the matter of Gaifman v. City of New York, Index No. 155965-2014 – a sidewalk trip-and-fall case – the Supreme Court, New York County (Judge Freed) denied plaintiff’s application to file a late notice of claim. According to the supporting memorandum of law in the Gaifman case, plaintiff tripped and…
Read More Court Rules That City is not Liable When Sidewalk Defects Are Caused By Tree RootsGovernor Cuomo recently signed legislation allowing New York City to lower the default speed limit from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour. It will go into effect in three months. The purpose is to reduce the amount of injuries and death arising from motor vehicle accidents, particularly pedestrian knockdowns.
Read More New Law Makes NYC Speed Limit 25 MPHIn Benn v. New York Presbyt. Hosp., a pedestrian knockdown motor vehicle accident personal injury case decided August 6, 2014, the Appellate Division, Second Department denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment. In this case, a 13 year-old student was struck by a city ambulance while in the middle of a crosswalk after exiting a city…
Read More Ambulance-Hit-Pedestrian Lawsuit Continues; “Emergency Vehicle” Recklessness Standard InapplicableIn Luckey v. City of New York, the Appellate Division, First Department held on August 7, 2014 that the trial court should not have dismissed the plaintiff’s negligence claims against the City of New York. “Plaintiff’s’ decedent was an inmate at Rikers Island who was treated for chronic asthma during the few weeks in which she was…
Read More Inmate Asthma Death Suit ContinuesIf you have been injured due to the negligence of a municipal entity (such as the City of New York), you will need to file a document known as a “Notice of Claim” within a fixed deadline after the accident or event in order to protect your rights. Failure to do so may result in dismissal…
Read More What is a “Notice of Claim”?In DiVetri v. ABM Janitorial Services (decided July 24, 2014) the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed the denial of defendants’ motion for summary judgment. In this personal injury case, plaintiff slipped and fell on water she tracked onto the marble lobby floor of a building she entered. The water came from a hose being used by defendant’s…
Read More Watering Sidewalk + Marble Floor + No Mats = Continuation of Slip/Fall CaseIn Gomez v. Yussuf, a left-turn car accident case, the court dismissed plaintiff’s case, finding that plaintiff was the sole proximate cause of the accident. It described the accident as follows: Plaintiff was the driver of a car which hit a vehicle owned and operated by defendant at the intersection of Rockaway Boulevard and Beach 56th…
Read More Left Turn Accident Was All Plaintiff’s Fault, Court FindsHere’s the personal injury lawsuit recently filed by Ebrahim Noorani against Dylan’s Candy Bar. Plaintiff asserts that, while he was at defendant’s store in April 2013, he “was seriously injured when he bit into white chocolate which had a screw in it.”
Read More Screw Lawsuit Against Dylan’s Candy Bar