Personal Injury

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Recently 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 Sanctions
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In 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 Case
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In 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) Claim
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Below 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 Club
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I’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 Continues
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In 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 Device
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Imagine 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 Accident
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In Watson v. Jade Luxury Transp. Corp., the court affirmed the trial court’s decision to set aside the jury’s verdict of no liability and to direct a new trial on the issue of liability. This car accident case illustrates the relationship of the distinct elements of “negligence” and “proximate cause” in a personal injury lawsuit. The…

Read More Jury Verdict in Car Accident Case Properly Set Aside As Inconsistent
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In Garrido v. Puente, the Appellate Division, Second Department held that a pedestrian was not entitled to summary judgment on liability. In this case, “[t]he plaintiff, a pedestrian crossing Bronx River Road at its intersection with Yonkers Avenue, was struck by an automobile operated and owned by the defendant, who was making a left turn…

Read More Pedestrian Not Entitled to Summary Judgment on Liability
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