In 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 CaseIn DiLorenzo v S.I.J. Realty Co., LLC, the Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff’s slip-and-fall claim. There, plaintiff sued the owner of the property where she fell, as well as the company which contracted to provide cleaning services at the premises. Generally: A plaintiff’s inability to identify the cause of her fall is…
Read More Failure to Identify Cause of Fall Dooms Slip-and-Fall CaseBelow is the complaint filed yesterday by plaintiff Michelle Nelson against Con Edison and the owner (Kaoru Demler Murmatsu) of 1646 Park Avenue, one of the buildings that collapsed on March 12th following an apparent gas explosion, killing and injuring several people. Plaintiff alleges that, as a result of the explosion, she fell and sustained injuries…
Read More Harlem Gas Explosion Lawsuit