Court: NY App. Div. Dept. 1

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In Prince v. Lovelace, decided March 4, 2014, the Appellate Division, First Department reversed a trial court’s decision that plaintiff did not suffer a “serious injury” under New York’s “No-Fault” Law, Insurance Law § 5102(d): Defendant failed to establish prima facie that plaintiff did not suffer a serious injury to his right knee as a…

Read More “Serious Injury” to Knee in Car Accident Case
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Jahn v. SH Entertainment, LLC is a slip-and-fall case decided by the First Department on May 8, 2014. The court affirmed the denial of defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff was injured when he slipped and fell on water. Generally, “[a] defendant who moves for summary judgment in a slip-and-fall case has the initial burden of…

Read More Slip/Fall Case Continues; Employees May Have Left Out Bags of Ice
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Under New York law, a plaintiff suing a municipality (including the City of New York) must first file what is called a “Notice of Claim.” The particulars of the Notice of Claim requirement are spelled out in General Municipal Law § 50-e. In Jimenez v. City of New York, decided May 15, 2014, the Appellate Division, First…

Read More Notice of Claim Sufficiently Alleged Playground Equipment’s Defective Design
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The Appellate Division, First Department held, in Walzer v. Metropolitan Transportation Authority (decided May 13, 2014), that plaintiff’s gender discrimination claims should not have been dismissed: Applying the liberal pleading standards applicable to employment discrimination claims under the State and City Human Rights Law, plaintiff has stated causes of action for violations of the Human…

Read More First Department Reinstates Gender Discrimination Claims
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In Alford v. City of New York, the Appellate Division, First Department unanimously affirmed a trial court’s refusal to allow defendants to obtain or use plaintiff’s medical records relating to prior substance abuse and mental health treatment. Plaintiff sued to recover for back and knee injuries, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder and mental and psychological injuries, allegedly…

Read More Mental Health and Substance Abuse Records Properly Precluded Following Withdrawal of PTSD/Mental Injury Injury Claims in Elevator Accident Case
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In Phillip v Young Men’s Christian Assn. of Greater N.Y. (a slip-and-fall case), the Appellate Division, First Department recently affirmed the lower court’s grant of defendant’s motion for summary judgment. “Defendant met its initial burden of demonstrating lack of notice of the wet condition of the locker room floor where plaintiff allegedly slipped by submitting evidence…

Read More General Awareness of Wet Condition Insufficient to Survive Summary Judgment in Slip/Fall Case
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In Serra v. Goldman Sachs Group, the Appellate Division, First Department held that the trial court properly granted plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment as to liability on plaintiff’s Labor Law § 240(1) claim: [P]laintiffs submitted uncontradicted deposition testimony that the unsecured extended ladder upon which plaintiff was working slipped and fell out from underneath him.…

Read More Ladder Slip Results in Summary Judgment for Plaintiff on Labor Law 240(1) Claim
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In Herrera v. Dulisse, a car accident case, the Appellate Division, First Department reversed the lower court’s grant of summary judgment to defendant on plaintiff’s claim that she suffered a “serious injury”. Defendant “failed to establish his entitlement to judgment as a matter of law with respect to plaintiff’s claims under the ‘permanent consequential limitation of…

Read More Evidence of Bulging Disc and 20% Loss of Use of Cervical Spine Sufficient to Meet Serious Injury Threshold in Car Accident Case
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In Kang v. Almanzar, the Appellate Division, First Department recently modified the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to defendant on the issue of whether plaintiff suffered a “serious injury” to her right shoulder under the “significant limitation in use” category set forth in Insurance Law § 5102(d). Initially, Defendants made a prima facie showing that…

Read More Plaintiff Presents Sufficient Evidence of “Significant Limitation” to Right Shoulder to Meet “Serious Injury” Threshold
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Did a car accident cause plaintiff’s stroke? That is the question recently addressed by the First Department in Sadek v. Wesley. The court reversed a trial court ruling precluding plaintiff’s neurological experts from testifying and dismissing plaintiff’s complaint. This motor vehicle accident case arose from a collision between a limousine driven by plaintiff Sadek and a Greyhound…

Read More First Department Reverses Decision Precluding Expert Testimony on Causation and Condemns “Ambush” Trial Motion Practice
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