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“Under the so-called ‘storm in progress’ rule, a property owner will not be held responsible for accidents occurring as a result of the accumulation of snow and ice on its premises until an adequate period of time has passed following the cessation of the storm to allow the owner an opportunity to ameliorate the hazards…
Read More New York’s “Storm in Progress” Rule
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In Domaszowec v. Residential Mgmt. Grp. LLC, No. 16697, 2016 WL 208299 (N.Y. App. Div. Jan. 19, 2016), the First Department held that the plaintiff was entitled to summary judgment on her Labor Law § 240(1) claim. Labor Law § 240(1), the so-called “Scaffold Law”, provides in pertinent part: All contractors and owners and their…
Read More Window Cleaner Died While “Cleaning” Within Meaning of NY’s “Scaffold Law”, Labor Law § 240(1), Court Holds
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The tragic story of the death of 15-year-old Natalia Jimenez is making the rounds. The New York Times reports, for example, that Ms. Jimenez died on Friday (1/15/16) afternoon after she tried to jump from one rooftop to another in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. The Times article continues: A neighbor chastised [Natalia and her two friends],…
Read More Failed Manhattan Building Jump Attempt Results in Death of NYC Teen Natalie Jimenez
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In Rodriguez v Judge and Community Church of Astoria, 2015 NY Slip Op 07828 [132 AD3d 966] (App. Div. 2nd Dept. Oct. 28, 2015), the court explained and applied the well-known tort doctrine of “respondeat superior”, under which an employer is liable for the torts of its employees. Here are the (briefly-summarized) facts of this personal…
Read More Church Not Liable to Plaintiff for Assault/Battery by Employee’s Husband
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In Katz v United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, 2016 NY Slip Op 00094 (App. Div. 1st Dept. Jan. 12, 2016), the court held that the defendant owed the injured plaintiff a duty, and permitted her negligence claim to continue. This decision outlines general principles regarding the critical/threshold issue of duty in a negligence case. Here are…
Read More Synagogue Owed Duty to Study-Abroad Student
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In Irizarry v. 1915 Realty LLC, 2016 NY Slip Op 00009 (App Div. 1st Dept. Jan. 5, 2016), the Appellate Division, First Department reversed the lower court’s order granting summary judgment to defendant on plaintiff’s personal injury/premises liability/slip-and-fall case. Teh court explained: Triable issues of fact regarding whether defendant caused or created the wet stair condition…
Read More Wet Stairway Slip/Fall Case Survives Summary Judgment
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In Elsayed v. Al Farha Corp., 2015 NY Slip Op 07813, 132 AD3d 942 (App. Div. 2nd Dept. Oct. 28, 2015), the Second Department affirmed the denial of defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff alleged that he fell into opened sidewalk cellar doors of a building owned by defendant T&T Steinway, LLC, from which defendant tenant…
Read More Cellar Door Personal Injury Case Continues; Defendant Failed to Establish That it Was an Out-of-Possession Landlord Man in pink blazer and blue bow tie
In personal injury litigation against the City of New York, the name of the game is the Notice of Claim. In Lewis v. New York City Hous. Auth., 2016 NY Slip Op 00040 (App. Div. 1st Dept. Jan. 7, 2016), the court affirmed the lower court’s order granting defendant’s motion to strike allegations from plaintiff’s…
Read More Court Precludes Theory Not Asserted in Notice of Claim
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The tragic story of Connor Cummings, who died while trying to take a photo atop NYC’s Four Seasons Hotel, is making the rounds. Assuming Mr. Cummings was trespassing, might he have a claim? It depends. A recent Second Circuit decision, Philip v. Deutsche Bank Nat. Trust Co., No. 14-4054-CV, 2015 WL 6642978 (2d Cir. Nov. 2, 2015) (Summary…
Read More Court Affirms Dismissal of Trespasser’s Personal Injury Case
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In a lawsuit filed on December 29, 2015 in New York Supreme Court, Katz v. Bocca East Restaurant et al, NY Sup. Ct. Index No. 163085/2015, plaintiffs Judith Katz and (her daughter) Laura Katz allege that they were injured when Laura “was dowsed [sic] in flames, lit on fire, engulfed in flames and severely burned…
Read More Burn Lawsuit Against Bocca East Restaurant