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If you see a banana peel on the stairs, don’t intentionally step on it. That’s the lesson from Betances v. 470 Audobon Ave. Corp., a recent New York Supreme Court decision. There, the plaintiff slipped on a banana peel and fell down the stairs. He sued, alleging that defendant was negligent in maintaining the staircase, and permitting…
Read More Step Away From the Banana Peel!
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“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” These words, attributed to Stephen Hawking, find application in various fields. They are particularly applicable to a recent New York Post article entitled “NY’s worst law helps lawyers, kills construction”. Written by Rev. Jacques DeGraff, the article attacks NY’s “Scaffold Law” – New York…
Read More The Post’s Misguided Attack on the Scaffold Law
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In Auz v. Century Carpet, the Southern District of New York recently denied summary judgment to plaintiff on the issue of liability in a car accident case occurring at or near the intersection of Second Avenue and 57th Street in Manhattan. “In order to establish a prima facie case of negligence under New York law,…
Read More Issues of Fact Preclude Summary Judgment for Plaintiff in Car Accident Case
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In honor of Super Bowl Sunday, here’s a case involving a football-related injury. In Bocelli v. County of Nassau, plaintiff sued after he sustained injuries while playing flag football in Stillwell Woods Park. He claimed that “as he was running, he slipped and fell upon an exposed sprinkler head and sustained injuries to his left knee and…
Read More Court Permits Football-Related Injury Claims to Continue
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In Perez v. City of New York, the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s car accident case on the ground of laches. Black’s Law Dictionary defines “laches” as the “unreasonable delay pursuing a right or claim…in a way that prejudices the [opposing] party”. The court, in a very short opinion,…
Read More Laches Results in Dismissal of 28-Year Old Car Accident Case
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In Gomez v J.C. Penny Corp., Inc., the Appellate Division, First Department reversed a denial of summary judgment for defendant J.C. Penny, and directed a judgment in defendant’s favor dismissing the complaint. In this negligence case, Plaintiff alleges that she slipped and fell on water near the bottom of an escalator going from the third to…
Read More Evidence of Inspection and No Complaints Result in Dismissal of Slip/Fall Suit Against J.C. Penny
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In Humphrey v. Park View Fifth Ave. Assoc. LLC, the court modified a lower court’s order to grant plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on liability on his Labor Law § 240(1) claim, and affirmed the denial of defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s common-law negligence and Labor Law § 200 claims. Plaintiff claimed that he…
Read More Court Holds in Favor of Injured Construction Worker on Labor Law 200 and 240(1) Claims
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In Parker v. Dunn, the Supreme Court, Wayne County recently granted summary judgment for defendant Hazlitt’s 1852 Vineyards dismissing plaintiffs’ claims arising from a fatal motorcycle accident. The facts: The action arises from a motor vehicle accident which occurred on May 31, 2009, on State Route 414 in the Town of Hector, New York at approximately…
Read More Court Rejects Action Under “Dram Shop Act” Against Vineyard
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In Malouf v. Equinox Holdings, Inc., the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed the lower court’s granting of (1) plaintiff’s motion “for spoliation sanctions to the extent of precluding defendant from arguing at trial that the treadmill plaintiff was using at the time of her accident was operating properly or was free from defects”, and (2) third-party defendant Life…
Read More Failure to Preserve Allegedly Defective Treadmill Results in Spoliation Sanctions Against Equinox
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A recent Appellate Division, Second Department, decision, Williams v. Spencer-Hall, illustrates the application of the general rule that: When the driver of an automobile approaches another automobile from the rear, he or she is bound to maintain a reasonably safe rate of speed and control over his or her vehicle, and to exercise reasonable care…
Read More Summary Judgment Should Have Been Granted For Rear-Ended Plaintiff