Recent News in New York State Personal Injury Claims
Slip and Fall Injury:
On June 30, 2009, an appellate court affirmed, with costs, a decision allowing a recovery for personal injuries arising out of a slip-and-fall. Plaintiff Andrea Rodriguez slipped and fell in the lobby of the building where she was employed, due to a puddle of water that had accumulated on the tile floor. Rodriguez asserts that “[a] lot” of rain was falling that morning, and that there were no mats or rugs on the lobby floor. After the plaintiff and her husband, suing derivatively, commenced this action, the defendants moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that they neither created nor had actual or constructive notice of the hazardous condition.
The court noted, however, that “[a] defendant who moves for summary judgment in a slip-and-fall case has the initial burden of making a prima facie case that it neither created the hazardous condition nor had actual or constructive notice of its existence for a sufficient length of time to discover and remedy it.” (Sloane v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 49 AD3d 522, 523 [internal quotations omitted]). In this case, the defendants failed to meet their burden. Although they submitted the deposition testimony of their property manager and the plaintiff in support of their motion, they offered no evidence as to when the lobby floor was last inspected prior to the plaintiff’s accident. Accordingly, the appellate division agreed with the trial court that the action could proceed and denied defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint.
(Rodriguez v. Hudson View Associates, LLC, 2009 WL 1884844, N.Y.S.2d).
Workplace Injury:
A New York state appellate court recently affirmed a decision holding Duane Reade liable for a personal injury suffered by a mechanic working in one of its stores. Mechanic Steven Weisman was injured when he fell from a beam he had been standing on in order to reach an inoperable heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) unit located on the roof of a store leased and occupied by the defendant Duane Reade, Inc. Weisman had been dispatched to the store in response to a “no-heat” call.
(See Weisman v. Duane Reade, Inc., July 14, 2009 WL 2032106 (N.Y.A.D. 2 Dep’t))
Summertime Injury:
The appellate division also recently recognized as valid a claim brought forth by a Brooklyn resident who was injured when an air conditioner fell from the window of a building owned by the defendants. Although defendants attempted to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that it was the tenant living in the apartment who caused the air conditioner to fall when he was removing it from the window, the court ruled that because they “offered no evidence, other than inadmissible hearsay, as to why the air conditioner fell from the window” and “failed to show that they were not negligent in their initial inspection of the air conditioner’s installation,” they could still be held liable for the plaintiff’s injury.
(See Saunders v. 551 Galaxy Realty Corp., N.Y.S.2d, 2009 WL 1957389).
Updates on our Law Firm:
Michael T. Altman of Trolman, Glaser and Lichtman is currently representing Luis Cueto against Walgreen. The action concerns an altercation between Cueto and employees of Walgreen. The appellate court recently affirmed the trial court’s decision denying defendants’ request to conduct a psychiatric examination of Cueto. The action is still proceeding.
(Cueto v. Walgreen, 880 N.Y.S.2d 526, June 16, 2009)
General Information about Trolman, Glaser & Lichtman:
For the past 40 years, the attorneys at Trolman, Glaser & Lichtman have successfully represented victims of medical malpractice, automobile accidents, workplace injuries and other personal injury accidents. The firm has recovered millions of dollars for its clients, including a $14 million verdict for a woman who was seriously injured in an automobile accident due to faulty roadway construction, a $12 million settlement for two children who were severely burned by an unsecured gas range in their own apartment, and $4.9 million for a construction worker who suffered a serious back injury due to inadequate safety at a worksite.
Trolman, Glaser & Lichtman: Don’t settle for less!
