Summary judgment in New York slip-and-fall case.

We successfully obtained summary judgement in a premises liability case in Nassau County, NY. The plaintiff brought a claim against our landowner/tenant client for injuries sustained due to a trip and fall over a raised sidewalk condition abutting our client’s premises. Under New York law, an abutting owner or lessee will be liable to a pedestrian injured by a dangerous condition on a public sidewalk only when: (1) the owner or lessee either created the condition; (2) the owner or lessee caused the condition to occur because of a special use; or (3) when a statute or ordinance places an obligation to maintain the sidewalk on the owner or the lessee AND expressly makes the owner or the lessee liable for injuries caused by a breach of that duty. We argued that our client neither caused the condition to occur (as evidenced by a tree well immediately adjacent to the alleged condition) and that controlling local law did not expressly make landowners liable for failing to maintain a sidewalk. The court granted summary judgment, citing numerous arguments included in our motion, thereby dismissing the plaintiff’s claims and granting our cross-claims for common law indemnity and contribution against a co-defendant.