Premises Liability

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Winter is coming, along with winter-related hazards. Among them is so-called “black ice“. In a recent slip/fall case, Rodriguez v. Bronx Zoo Restaurant (decided Oct. 1), the Appellate Division, First Department reversed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to defendants. Plaintiff alleged that she slipped on a patch of black ice on a “dirty or…

Read More Ice Slip/Fall Case Continues in Light of Fact Issues as to Constructive Notice
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Those Romanians – always causing trouble.  First Dracula, now this. (That said, the Romanian I’m married to happens to be perfect.) A New York trial court recently held, in Weason v. Permanent Mission of Romania to the UN and Romania, that defendants were not immune under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act for injuries allegedly sustained…

Read More Romania Not Immune in Slip/Fall Case
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In Hoffman v. Brown, a premises liability case, the Second Department recently reversed a denial of summary judgment for defendants and dismissed plaintiff’s complaint. Plaintiff alleged that he sustained injuries while descending an exterior staircase abutting the side of defendants’ house.  Plaintiff claimed that as he stepped on the second step from the top of the…

Read More Defendant Wins in Staircase Injury Case; Plaintiff Fails to Prove Creation or Notice of Hazardous Condition
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In Clindinin v. New York City Housing Authority, NY Supreme Ct. # 109954/2010, the New York Supreme Court recently denied defendant New York City Housing Authority’s motion for summary judgment. In his complaint plaintiff alleged that while taking a shower the water changed erratically “from cold and cool to scalding hot” and that the building’s “defective and unsafe”…

Read More Plaintiff Overcomes Summary Judgment in Shower Burn Case
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An upstate trial court recently held, in King v. Cornell University, that defendant Cornell University was not entitled to summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by the parents of an intoxicated student (Khalil Jamal Godfrey King) who died after falling from a 200-foot tall cliff into the Fall Creek gorge on Cornell’s campus. The (tragic) facts,…

Read More Lawsuit Against Cornell Can Continue; Drunk Student Was Not “Hiking” When He Fell Off Cliff
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In Shane v. Supervova New York Realty LLC (NY Sup. July 8, 2013), a stairway trip-and-fall case, the court denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment, finding triable issues of fact as to whether an outside stairway defect was “trivial”. Plaintiff, a guest at a NYC Sheraton Hotel, tripped on the stairs ascending to the landing leading…

Read More Court Finds Issues of Fact as to Whether 0.5-Inch Defect Was a “Trap” or Snare” and Hence Not “Trivial”
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A trial court recently denied the motions by Bob’s Discount Furniture and Costco Wholesale Corporation to dismiss claims arising from Marion Hedges being struck by a shopping cart dropped from the fourth floor of the East River Plaza shopping complex (pictured). The complaint in Hedges v. East River Plaza LLC is here, my earlier post on…

Read More Marion Hedges’ Lawsuit Arising From Dropped Shopping Cart Survives Summary Judgment
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In a June 7, 2012 decision in Arsenault v. New York State, the Appellate Division, Third Department dismissed plaintiffs’ claims (and reversed an earlier decision, which I wrote about here) arising from plaintiff’s decedent being struck and killed by falling rocks while hiking in a state park.  The Court of Claims had denied summary judgment…

Read More State Not Liable for Hiker Death
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Below is the complaint filed by Evelyn Paswall on March 20th against Apple Inc. According to the suit, Ms. Paswall “walked directly into the clear glass doors at [the store] and fractured her nose.”  The allegations pertaining to Apple’s alleged negligence are largely set forth in paragraphs 18 and 19. [scribd id=86658094 key=key-f4pibatfj6025bu0d57 mode=list]

Read More 83-Year Old Woman Sues Apple After Walking Into Store’s Glass Facade
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