Below is a copy of the complaint filed last week by the husband and child of Marion Hedges, who was injured on October 30, 2011 when struck by a shopping cart dropped from an elevated walkway of a Harlem shopping center (news regarding the recent sentencing of one of the teens involved in the incident here).…
Read More Shopping Cart Drop LawsuitIn Sacco v. City of New York (App. Div. 1 Dept. Feb. 16, 2012), an Appellate Division, First Department panel held that the trial court erred in determining, as a matter of law, that the City was not provided with sufficient notice, per NYC Administrative Code § 7-201(c)(2), of the defective condition upon which plaintiff…
Read More Inspection Report Satisfied NYC’s “Pothole Law” Notice RequirementA state appellate court recently held that the New York statute that requires certain health clubs in the State of New York to provide an automated external defibrillator (AED) device, as well as a person trained in its use, also imposes an affirmative duty of care upon said clubs so as to give rise to…
Read More “Death by Gym” Less Likely Now – Court Imposes Affirmative Duty to Use DefibrillatorThe SDNY recently held, in In re September 11 Litigation, 04-cv-7272 (Sept. 23, 2011), that the absence of duty doomed Con Edison’s negligence suit against various defendants arising from the destruction of its power station following the collapse of 7 World Trade Center on September 11, 2011. Specifically, Con Edison sued the builder and developer…
Read More SDNY Applies Palsgraf to Deny Recovery to Con Edison in 9/11-Related LitigationBukowski v. Clarkson Univ., No. 510051 (3d Dept. July 14, 2011): Plaintiff, a college baseball pitcher, sued his school (Clarkson University) to recover damages for injuries sustained after he was hit in the face by a line drive during batting practice. After a jury trial, the trial court dismissed his complaint on the ground that…
Read More Pitcher, Hit By Line Drive, Assumed Risk of InjuryLast week I returned from a family trip to (and, more specifically, to the bottom of) the Grand Canyon. During my various treks throughout the canyon labyrinth, I conjured up numerous disaster scenarios. Naturally, my thoughts – as they often do – drifted to litigation. If I were injured, who would I sue? Under what…
Read More Court Allows Rockslide Death Suit to ContinueIn Creagh v. Trata Estiatorio and Watermill 27 Partners, LLC (decided March 14, 2011), the court denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment on the issue of notice of the allegedly hazardous condition (here, water on the floor). Initially, the court summarized the law regarding premises liability, as well as the burdens of the parties on summary judgment…
Read More Court Denies Summary Judgment to Defendant Restaurant in Slip and Fall CasePlaintiff was injured after her son-in-law’s dog knocked her down. Supreme Court (Kings Cty.) denied defendant’s, and granted plaintiff’s, respective motions for summary judgment. (See Bannout v. McDaniels, 9920/09 (NYLJ 1202479668419, at *1)). The court denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment – which was premised on plaintiff’s failure to offer evidence that an “insufficient handrail” proximately…
Read More Bad Dog! Summary Judgment for Woman Knocked Down by Overenthusiastic Pooch