According to various news reports, several (as many as eight) people were injured yesterday when shelving at a Bronx Dollar Store collapsed in a “thunderous roar”, causing objects (including cans and dishes) to fall. As this just happened and details are still emerging, it is far too early to determine whether, and to what extent, the…
Read More Bronx Dollar Store Shelving Collapse – Res Ipsa Loquitur?In Rosario v. City of New York, a trip-and-fall case, the Appellate Division, First Department reversed the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motions for a directed verdict and/or judgment notwithstanding the verdict. “To impose liability on defendant City for a defective condition of a tree well, plaintiff must show that the municipality either received prior written…
Read More Citing Lack of Prior Written Notice, Court Dismisses Tree Well Trip-and-Fall CaseIn Luna v New York City Transit Authority, the Appellate Division, First Department reinstated a $1 million jury award for the plaintiff who was injured after falling on defendant NYCTA’s bus. The jury awarded plaintiff $500,000 for past pain and suffering and $500,000 for future pain and suffering over 34 years. The trial court (Supreme Court, Bronx…
Read More Court Reinstates $1 Million Jury Award for City Bus PassengerIn Joplin v. City of New York, the First Department unanimously reversed the trial court’s decision which granted defendants’ motion to renew plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of liability and, upon renewal, denied plaintiff’s motion. Initially, the trial court “granted plaintiff’s motion based on the undisputed evidence that plaintiff’s car was stopped at…
Read More Trial Court Should Have Denied Defendant’s Renewal Motion in Rear-End Collision CaseToday in Ferreyr v. Soros, a five-judge panel of the Appellate Division, First Department modified a trial court order, thereby dismissing all of plaintiff Adriana Ferreyr’s claims against her ex-boyfriend George Soros except for assault and battery. In her 2011 complaint, Mr. Ferreyr accused Mr. Soros of reneging on a promise to buy her an apartment and physically attacking…
Read More Court Dismisses All But Adriana Ferreyr’s Assault and Battery Claims Against George SorosIn Abott v. City of New York, the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed a directed verdict for the defendant City of New York. Plaintiff sued to recover for injuries sustained after stepping into a pothole. This scenario implicates New York City’s “Pothole Law”, codified as New York City Administrative Code § 7-201. Section 7-201(c)(2) of that statute…
Read More Repairs to Pothole Over One Year Before Accident Defeats Injury Claim Against City of New YorkIn Meyer v. City of New York, the Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff’s trip-and-fall personal injury suit against defendant real property owners. Defendants moved for summary judgment “on the ground that, under section 7-210 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York (hereinafter the Sidewalk Law), they were not…
Read More Court Affirms Dismissal of Sidewalk Trip-and-Fall Case Under NYC Sidewalk Law’s “Residential” ExemptionRecently, in Pichardo v. Fernandez, the Supreme Court, New York County denied a motion for summary judgment filed by the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) and the driver of a City bus involved in an accident. Plaintiff was a passenger on a NYCTA bus when it was struck from behind by a car driven and…
Read More Bus Passenger’s Personal Injury Case Continues, Where Protruding Bus Was Rear-EndedIn Arzeno v. City of New York, the Bronx Supreme Court discussed the application of the New York City Sidewalk Law – codified as New York City Administrative Code (NYCAC) § 7-210 – which generally shifts liability for sidewalk accidents from the City to abutting property owners. The court dismissed the action against the City, but…
Read More Sidewalk/Hydrant Trip-and-Fall Case Dismissed Against City, Remains Against Abutting Property OwnersIn a recent decision in the wrongful death case of Reid v. Soults et al. (hat tip: Eric Turkewitz), a state trial court denied defendants’ motion to compel plaintiff to comply with their demand for discovery and inspection regarding a YouTube video depicting the decedent, and to compel a third party (the decedent’s brother, who publicly posted the…
Read More Court Determines YouTube Video of Decedent is Not Relevant in Wrongful Death Case