Court: NY App. Div. Dept. 2

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A recent Appellate Division, Second Department decision, Sicuranza v. Philip Howard Apts. Tenants Corp. (decided 10/22/14), held that the plaintiff’s claims of sexual harassment, battery, negligent hiring, and negligent supervision were barred by a release executed by the plaintiff as part of a separation agreement she entered into with her former employer, nonparty Cooper Square Realty, Inc.…

Read More Release Bars Sexual Harassment, Battery, Negligent Hiring, and Negligent Supervision Claims
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In Johnson v. City of New York, a personal injury case involving a drowning death, the Appellate Division, Second Department reversed the denial of summary judgment to defendant City of New York, and dismissed plaintiff’s complaint. The facts: On July 26, 2008, Akira Johnson, a 10-year-old girl, and her cousin, Tyriek Currie, a 10-year-old boy, were…

Read More City Not Liable for Coney Island Drowning Death
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In Williams v. New York City Tr. Auth. (decided 10/8/14), the Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed a judgement entered on a jury award of $480,000 (reached by applying the jury’s determination that defendant was 80% at fault in the happening of the accident to its assessment of $600,000 in damages sustained by plaintiff). Here are the…

Read More Court Affirms $480,000 Jury Award to Trip-and-Fall Plaintiff
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In Davis v. Duane Reade, Inc. (2d Dept. Sept. 24, 2014), the court explained the narrow scope of the waiver provision of New York’s Whistleblower Law: Labor Law § 740(7) provides that “the institution of an action in accordance with this section shall be deemed a waiver of the rights and remedies available under any…

Read More Court Clarifies Limited Scope of Whistleblower Law’s Waiver Provision
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In D’Agostino v. YRC, Inc., the Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed the denial of summary judgment on liability in favor of the plaintiff, who was struck in the rear. Here are the facts: During the late night hours of October 22, 2010, the plaintiff was driving in the northbound right lane of Interstate 87, near…

Read More Possible Explanation for Rear-End Collision Precludes Summary Judgment in Favor of Rear-Ended Plaintiff
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In Brown v. Mackiewicz (decided September 10, 2014), the Appellate Division, Second Department reversed the denial of plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, and ordered that plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on liability be granted. Translation: plaintiff wins (at least on the issue of liability). In this car accident personal injury case, the plaintiff was a…

Read More Pedestrian Struck By Ambulance in Crosswalk Wins Summary Judgment on Liability
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As explained by the Second Department in Cipriano v. City of New York, In a slip and fall case, a defendant may establish its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by submitting evidence that the plaintiff cannot identify the cause of his or her fall. If a plaintiff is unable to…

Read More Second Department Clarifies That a Slip/Fall Plaintiff Need Not Have Personal Knowledge of Cause of Fall
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In Biniachvili v. Yeshivat Shaare Torah, Inc., the Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed summary judgment for plaintiffs in their personal injury case due to the defendant’s disposal of a grate that allegedly caused injury. This, the court held, amounted to spoliation of evidence. The facts: On May 22, 2009, the infant plaintiffs …, along with approximately…

Read More Plaintiffs Awarded Summary Judgment Due to Evidence Spoliation in Personal Injury Case
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In Amador v. City of New York, decided August 13, 2014, the Appellate Division, Second Department explained: A rear-end collision with a stopped or stopping vehicle establishes a prima facie case of negligence on the part of the operator of the rear vehicle, thereby requiring that operator to rebut the inference of negligence by providing a…

Read More Rear-Ended Plaintiff Not Entitled to Summary Judgment in Car Accident Case
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In Benn v. New York Presbyt. Hosp., a pedestrian knockdown motor vehicle accident personal injury case decided August 6, 2014, the Appellate Division, Second Department denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment. In this case, a 13 year-old student was struck by a city ambulance while in the middle of a crosswalk after exiting a city…

Read More Ambulance-Hit-Pedestrian Lawsuit Continues; “Emergency Vehicle” Recklessness Standard Inapplicable
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