Practice point: The Appellate Division reversed, and granted defendant's summary judgment motion in this action where plaintiff allegedly tripped and fell on a sidewalk abutting premises owned by defendant.
An abutting landowner will be liable to a pedestrian injured by a sidewalk defect where the landowner created the defect, caused the defect
to occur by some special use of the sidewalk, or breached a specific
ordinance or statute which obligates the owner to maintain the sidewalk. Here, defendant established, prima facie, that her property was covered by the
exemption for owner-occupied residential property set forth in section
2-710(b) of the Administrative Code of the City of New York, and
that she had no statutory duty to maintain the sidewalk.
Student note: Generally, liability for injuries sustained as a result of dangerous and defective conditions on public sidewalks is placed on the municipality, and not the abutting landowner.
Case: Ippolito v. Innamorato, NY Slip Op 00648 (2d Dept. 2016)
Here is the decision.
Tuesday's issue: A summary judgment motion denied as untimely.
