In Ortiz v. New York City Housing Authority, decided Sept. 11, 2014, the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed the denial of defendant’s motion for summary judgment. In this personal injury slip/trip-and-fall case, plaintiff sued after she was injured after falling on ice on the sidewalk adjacent to defendant’s residential building. In finding that the trial…
Read More Plaintiff Overcomes Summary Judgment in Ice Trip/Fall CaseIn Brown v. Mackiewicz (decided September 10, 2014), the Appellate Division, Second Department reversed the denial of plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, and ordered that plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on liability be granted. Translation: plaintiff wins (at least on the issue of liability). In this car accident personal injury case, the plaintiff was a…
Read More Pedestrian Struck By Ambulance in Crosswalk Wins Summary Judgment on LiabilityIn Barney-Yeboah v. Metro-North Commuter Railroad, the Appellate Division, First Department held that plaintiff was entitled to summary judgment on the issue of liability under the doctrine of resipsa loquitur. Here are the facts of this personal injury case: Plaintiff, a passenger on defendant’s train, was allegedly injured when a ceiling panel in the train…
Read More Court Holds that Train Panel Injury Results in Summary Judgment in Plaintiff’s Favor Under Doctrine of Res Ipsa LoquiturAs explained by the Second Department in Cipriano v. City of New York, In a slip and fall case, a defendant may establish its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by submitting evidence that the plaintiff cannot identify the cause of his or her fall. If a plaintiff is unable to…
Read More Second Department Clarifies That a Slip/Fall Plaintiff Need Not Have Personal Knowledge of Cause of FallHere is the recent complaint filed by Vernon Steward and his wife against the American Museum of the Moving Image. Plaintiffs allege that, while on the 3rd floor of the museum, Mr. Steward “was caused to trip over a baby/infant who was on the floor causing him to fall to the floor.” He seeks to recover for his…
Read More Man Trips Over Baby in Museum, SuesIn Biniachvili v. Yeshivat Shaare Torah, Inc., the Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed summary judgment for plaintiffs in their personal injury case due to the defendant’s disposal of a grate that allegedly caused injury. This, the court held, amounted to spoliation of evidence. The facts: On May 22, 2009, the infant plaintiffs …, along with approximately…
Read More Plaintiffs Awarded Summary Judgment Due to Evidence Spoliation in Personal Injury CaseHere’s the lawsuit recently filed in the Southern District of New York by ESPN sportscaster Linda Cohn against Southeast Sports Complex, Players Club at Brewster Ice Arena, and Steve Santini. Plaintiff alleges in her complaint that she was injured “when a heavy, large coin change machine fell upon her”. Cohn stated on her whosay page that “[s]ome…
Read More Linda Cohn Personal Injury Lawsuit Against Brewster Ice ArenaIn Topchieva v. Lovett Co., LLC, the Appellate Division, First Department held: As clearly depicted on the surveillance video included in the record, plaintiff was injured when she slipped and fell immediately upon entering the lobby of defendants’ building. One of the lobby’s double glass doors was closed and locked, while the door through which plaintiff…
Read More Video of Mat Placement Results in Continuation of Lobby Slip/Fall CaseMy 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 Case