Here at the Pospis Law Blog, I try to keep the articles and posts somewhat topical. As it is Christmas Eve, I thought a Christmas tree-themed post was appropriate. Unfortunately, this is not a happy Christmas tree tale, but rather one in which a Christmas tree was the alleged cause of an injury. (I tried…
Read More Christmas Tree Trip-and-Fall Case ContinuesIn Yuk Ping Cheng Chan v. Young T. Lee & Son Realty Corp., the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed a denial of summary judgment for defendant in a slip-and-fall case. Plaintiff alleged that she slipped and fell on a “large patch of grease” on the public sidewalk abutting premises owned by Yount T. Lee &…
Read More Slip-and-Fall Case Continues; Nexus Between Hazardous Condition and Circumstances of Fall ShownIn Kruk v City of New York, the Appellate Division, First Department, on December 19, 2013 unanimously affirmed the lower court’s order granting summary judgment dismissing plaintiffs’ claim under Labor Law § 241(6). Plaintiff was injured while using a power saw, when “the plywood he was cutting broke, pushing his left hand into the saw’s blade.”…
Read More Labor Law 241(6) Claim Dismissed; Power Saw Had Necessary Protective GuardsA case decided by the First Department today, Dillard v. New York City Housing Authority, illustrates the circumstances under which the element of proximate cause may be resolved as a matter of law. The court reversed a summary judgment for defendant, finding an issue of fact as to plaintiff’s comparative negligence. Here: Plaintiff, a resident…
Read More Plaintiff Was Not Sole Proximate Cause of Slip and Fall on Snow/Ice-Covered StepsIn Scafe v. Schindler Elevator Corp., the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed the denial of summary judgment for defendant. Plaintiff sued for injuries sustained when elevator doors slammed on her hand. Summary judgment has been described as the procedural equivalent of a trial. “On a motion for summary judgment, the movant bears the burden of adducing affirmative…
Read More Elevator Accident Personal Injury Case Survives Summary JudgmentIn Serdans v. New York Presbyterian Hospital, the Appellate Division, First Department permitted plaintiff’s claim that defendant failed to accommodate her disability to continue. Plaintiff, a registered nurse and nurse practitioner specializing in critical care, “suffers from a neurological disorder for which she was treated with deep brain stimulus (DBS) through electrodes permanently implanted in…
Read More Court Allows Failure to Accommodate Neurological Disability Claim to ContinueIn Munasca v Morrison Mgt. LLC, a trip-and-fall case, the Appellate Division, First Department reversed the trial court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s case on summary judgment. Plaintiff was injured after tripping and falling on a sidewalk defect in front of defendants’ premises. The court held that defendant failed to show, as a matter of law, that the…
Read More Sidewalk Tlip and Fall Case Continues; Pictures Didn’t Show That Defect Was “Trivial”In Carbonnier v. Board of Education of the City of New York, a student who was injured after being pushed by another student while playing on the monkey bars in a school playground. The Appellate Division yesterday directed the entry of judgment in favor of defendant. According to the court, defendant demonstrated its entitlement to summary…
Read More Monkey Bar Injury Case DismissedIn Orsos v. Hudson Tr. Corp., the Appellate Division, First Department recently affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint seeking damages for personal injuries she sustained in a bus accident. It held: Defendants established their entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by demonstrating the applicability of the emergency doctrine in this action where plaintiff…
Read More Application of “Emergency Doctrine” Results in Dismissal of Bus Accident CaseIn Torres v. 1420 Realty LLC, the Appellate Division, First Department recently applied the doctrine of “superseding cause” to affirm the dismissal of plaintiff’s personal injury case. Under that doctrine, a defendant is relieved of liability where, after his negligence, an unforeseeable superseding event breaks the causal connection between his negligence and a plaintiff’s injuries.…
Read More Court Dismisses Personal Injury Case, Finding That Use of Inverted Bucket as Step Stool on Uneven Floor Was “Superseding Cause” of Injury