A recent First Department decision, Abott v. City of New York, holds that the trial court properly dismissed plaintiff’s trip-and-fall complaint: The court properly directed a verdict for defendant City, as there was no rational process that would lead the trier of fact to find for plaintiff, who was injured after stepping into a pothole.…
Read More Pothole Injury Case Dismissed in Light of Prior RepairsIn Slattery v. Sachem N. High Sch., the Appellate Division, Second Department recently affirmed the lower court’s denial of defendants’ motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff claimed she “tripped and fell due to a difference in height between two concrete slabs of a sidewalk abutting the defendants’ premises.” The court explained the legal standard for determining…
Read More Sidewalk Defect Was Not “Trivial” as a Matter of Law; Trip-and-Fall Case ContinuesRecently an appellate court affirmed a trial court’s denial of a defendant’s motion for spoliation sanctions in a bicycle-related personal injury action. Here are the facts in Carlos v. Castillo, decided February 27, 2014: On January 26, 2009, plaintiff commenced this action seeking damages for injuries sustained on September 5, 2008, when, while riding a…
Read More Disposal of Bicycle Involved in Accident Did Not Give Rise to Spoliation SanctionsIn Cocco v. City of New York, the Appellate Division, First Department yesterday affirmed the dismissal of a personal injury lawsuit arising from an errant baseball striking the plaintiff. “[P]laintiff alleges that she was walking on the sidewalk, heading south on Lexington Avenue between 96th and 95th Streets, when a baseball coming from a schoolyard, owned…
Read More Baseball to Face But Sadly No CaseIn Degen v. Uniondale Union Free School District, the Appellate Division, Second Department recently affirmed the denial of plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on his Labor Law § 240(1) claim. “In order to establish liability under Labor Law § 240(1), there must be a violation of the statute, and the violation must be a proximate cause…
Read More Plaintiff Denied Summary Judgment on Labor Law § 240(1) ClaimBelow is the New York State Court complaint alleging sexual assault by a massage patron, as reported in today’s New York Post. Specifically, plaintiff Lauren Leakey claims that, during a massage while at the Setai Spa and Club‘s Wall Street location in April 2013, she was sexually assaulted by Setai employee Jason Turner. In particular, plaintiff alleges (among…
Read More Sex Assault Lawsuit Against Setai Spa and ClubI’ve spent many Saturdays wandering around Barnes & Noble bookstores. Years ago I would frequent the Astor Place store; after it closed my go-to location became the Union Square store. That was my awkward segue into today’s post, about a slip-and-fall case against the behemoth bookseller. The accident in this case, Seleman v. Barnes & Noble, occurred…
Read More Escalator Slip/Fall Case Against Barnes & Noble ContinuesIn Fabrizi v. 1095 Ave. of the Americas, the New York Court of Appeals addressed the issue of what constitutes a safety device within the meaning of Labor Law § 240(1). That statute, known as the “Scaffold Law”, provides: All contractors and owners and their agents, except owners of one and two-family dwellings who contract for…
Read More Court of Appeals Clarifies What is a Labor Law § 240(1) Safety DeviceImagine your car is stolen. Then imagine getting sued after the thief strikes someone with your stolen car. While this sounds made up – a subplot of a bad comedy, perhaps – it happened to Christopher Bivens. Fortunately for him, the allegations against him were (eventually) dismissed. The case is Alvarez v. Bivens, decided today by the…
Read More Court Affirms Dismissal of Claims Against Owner of Stolen Truck Used in AccidentIn Garcia v. New York City Transit Authority, the Appellate Division, Second Department held that the trial court should have granted the Transit Authority’s CPLR 4401 motion for judgment as a matter of law on the issue of liability. Here are the facts: At approximately 9:50 a.m. on May 22, 2006, the plaintiff’s decedent fell…
Read More Court Dismisses Subway Overcrowding Death Lawsuit