In Stanziale v. City of New York, the Appellate Division, Second Department held that a pedestrian walkway on which plaintiff allegedly slipped and fell was not part of the “sidewalk” for purposes of the statute shifting liability to private property owners.
In this case, the plaintiff slipped on fell on snow and ice on a pedestrian ramp abutting premises owned by defendant Bauer Properties and occupied by defendant Empire Beauty School.
In reversing the lower court’s denial of the abutting property owner’s motion for summary judgment, the court explained:
Administrative Code of the City of New York § 7-210, which became effective September 14, 2003, shifted tort liability for injuries arising from a defective sidewalk from the City of New York to the abutting property owner. However, pedestrian ramps are not part of the sidewalk for the purpose of imposing liability on abutting landowners pursuant to that provision.
Here, Bauer [the property owner] established its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by demonstrating that the area where the plaintiff slipped and fell was part of the pedestrian ramp.