Winter Is Coming . . . “Storm in Progress” Shields Landowners from Liability in NY
As New York prepares itself for another season of winter, the Second Department hands landowners, tenants in possession, and even snow removal companies their first victory of the season by reversing the trial court’s order and granting defendant’s motion to dismiss in this slip and fall case. March 14, 2017 brought a winter storm that had carried on into the night, producing 6-12 inches of...Read More
0
SJ Granted In Face Of Conclusory Defendant Affidavit On Labor Law Claim (NY)
This week the First Department, Appellate Division, in Castillo v. TRM Contracting 626 LLC, et al., 2022-00671, affirmed a worker’s partial motion for summary judgment on Labor Law § 240(1) liability. While attempting to cover a window with plastic before starting to paint, plaintiff proved that he fell from an unsecured, 6-to-8-foot-tall A-frame ladder that was in poor condition and leaning...Read More
0
Plaintiff Cannot Rely on Speculation in NY
In Taitt v. Riehm Plumbing Corporation, plaintiff slipped and fell on water that spilled out of a garbage bin positioned to catch a leak from a pipe in the ceiling of a basement storeroom. Defendants repaired the pipes of the ceiling in the basement corridor two months prior. New York Appellate Court reversed the lower court’s decision that denied defendant’s summary judgment. The...Read More
0
Hidden Danger in PA
In McPeak v. Direct Outdoor Products, LLC, 2022 WL 4369966 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 20, 2022), plaintiffs brought a personal injury action against defendants after plaintiff fell twenty feet to the ground when the steel cables attached to defendants’ hunting tree stand broke beneath him. The occurring corrosion of the cables was obstructed by the black polymer coating on the entire exterior of the...Read More
0
Call Your Next Witness (Cannabis Edition) — Alex Buscher of Buscher Law LLP
“No Comfortable Advice.” Such is the life of a cannabis attorney, trying to advise clients about the regulatory framework throughout the United States. The federal farm bill has multiple iterations, and marijuana is still illegal at the federal level as a Schedule 1 narcotic. But 37 states have legalized marijuana use either recreationally or medicinally....Read More
0
Defendants Bear Burden To Show Alleged Sidewalk Defect Substantial And Not the Cause Of Plaintiff’s Fall
In its November 21, 2022, decision Hawkins v. Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Ctr. (2022 N.Y. Slip Op. 33914), the Supreme Court, New York County denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment which was based upon the plaintiff’s inability to identify where she fell or the defect that caused her accident. The Plaintiff alleged that while she was walking on Fifth Avenue she fell at 1259...Read More
0
Out Of Possession Landlord Found To Have No Premises Liability (NY)
In Ghodbane v. 111 John Realty Corp., the Appellate Division, First Department recently addressed whether summary judgment awarded to an out of possession landlord was appropriate. In that case, the owner leased the premises to 7-Eleven and the premises were subsequently damaged. 7-Eleven hired a contractor to perform renovation work, after which the plaintiff, who was an employee of 7-Eleven,...Read More
0
Displacing A Duty To Maintain Premises Safely Can Absolve Premises Liability (NY)
A contractual obligation alone does not give rise to premises liability in favor of a third party under New York law. However, there is an exception to this rule where the contracting party entirely displaces the other party’s duty to maintain a premises in a safe condition. The Appellate Division, Second Department addressed this issue in the recent decision of Kevin DaCruz v. Airway...Read More
0