Premises Liability

by

In Correa v. Matsias, 2017 WL 4159254 (N.Y.A.D. 2 Dept. Sept. 20, 2017), a ceiling-collapse personal injury case, the court held that plaintiff could not employ the doctrine of “res ipsa loquitur” at trial. That doctrine, explained the court, is a rule of evidence that permits an inference of negligence to be drawn solely from…

Read More “Res Ipsa Loquitur” Doctrine Held Inapplicable in Ceiling-Collapse Personal Injury Case, But Complaints to Superintendent Demonstrated Notice Sufficient to Overcome Summary Judgment
Share This:
by

One common type of personal injury case involves someone being injured as a result of tripping and falling on someone’s property, resulting in injury. In these so-called “trip-and-fall” cases, courts have developed and applied the “trivial defect” doctrine. The Law In determining whether a defect is “trivial” as a matter of law, the court must…

Read More The “Trivial Defect” Doctrine in Personal Injury Trip-and-Fall Premises Liability Cases
Share This:
by

One frequently-occurring personal injury case is the so-called “slip-and-fall” case, which in turn is a species of “premises liability” claims. One court[1]Decker v. Middletown Walmart Supercenter Store, No. 15 CIV. 2886 (JCM), 2017 WL 568761 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 10, 2017) recently summarized the law as follows: In New York, [t]o establish a prima facie case of…

Read More Surviving Summary Judgment in a Slip-and-Fall Premises Liability Case
Share This:
by

In Lee v. Acevedo, 2017 NY Slip Op 05586 (App. Div. 2d Dept. July 12, 2017) – a personal injury premises liability case – the Appellate Division reversed the lower court’s award of summary judgment to defendant. Here are the facts, as summarized by the court: [Plaintiff alleged that she was injured] after she fell backwards…

Read More Fall-Down-Stairs Personal Injury Case Survives Summary Judgment
Share This:
by

In Chojnacki v. Old Westbury Gardens, Inc., 2017 NY Slip Op 05706, 2017 WL 3045841 (App. Div. 2d Dept. July 19, 2017), the court reversed a lower court’s finding that the alleged defect that caused plaintiff to fall – a raised brick – was “trivial” as a matter of law. From the decision:: The Supreme Court…

Read More Trip/Fall Case Survives Summary Judgment; Raised Brick Was Not a “Trivial Defect” as a Matter of Law
Share This:
by

In Andersen v. El Triunfo Laundromat Corp., 54 N.Y.S.3d 166, 167–68 (N.Y. App. Div. 2d Dept. 2017), the court affirmed the denial of summary judgment to defendant in plaintiff’s slip-and-fall case. Plaintiff alleged that they slipped and fell due to the presence of a foreign substance on the floor of defendant’s premises. Summarizing the (familiar, now…

Read More Slip/Fall Plaintiff Survives Summary Judgment in Light of Fact Issue as to Constructive Notice
Share This:
by

In Capobianco v. Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. LLC, No. 14 CIV. 6112 (NSR), 2017 WL 1157173 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 24, 2017), a personal injury slip-and-fall action, the court denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment. In sum, plaintiff testified that upon entering the “bottle room” of defendant’s supermarket (i.e., the area where customers tend to their recycling…

Read More Supermarket Slip/Fall Personal Injury Claim Survives Summary Judgment
Share This: