Monthly Archives: July 2024

Murga Injured When Hit by Yarusso’s Dog Chasing Ball

Posted on July 29, 2024 | Comments Off on Murga Injured When Hit by Yarusso’s Dog Chasing Ball

Was Pet’s  Owner Liable for Common Law Negligence?

Francisco Murga sued to recover damages for personal injuries he allegedly sustained as a result of an encounter with a dog owned by Richard Yarusso. Yarusso moved for summary judgment dismissing Murga’s complaint.  Supreme Court granted the motion. Murga appealed.

Murga testified at his deposition that he was walking in the street for exercise, when the dog ran from Yarusso’s property into the street and pushed him to the ground. The dog did not bite Murga. Murga described the dog as acting like “a big puppy” and thought that the dog was trying to play with him. By contrast, at his deposition, Yarusso testified that his dog was running in his front lawn to catch a ball that the he had thrown; the dog did not go into the street or have contact with the Murga; and that he believed that Murga tripped upon seeing his dog.

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Posted in Animals, Litigation, New York Law

Subtenants Admittedly Breached Sublease for 25th Street Coop

Posted on July 26, 2024 | Comments Off on Subtenants Admittedly Breached Sublease for 25th Street Coop

Court Determines If Sublandlord Failed to Mitigate Damages

Valerie Kikade owned cooperative unit 7C at 242 East 25th Street. She authorized her daughter, Angeli Kakade, to negotiate a sublease of the unit after a subtenant paying $3,300.00 per month was to move out at the end of March 2020. Angeli attested that, on February 17, 2020, Evan Newman and his wife returned to her the executed sublease that Valerie previously had signed, setting the rent at $3,250.00 per month for the unit. The sublease required that the Newmans pay a security deposit to Valerie and that their failure to take possession of the unit after the sublease commenced would constitute a breach of the sublease. The Newmans neither paid the security deposit nor took possession of the unit. Litigation and cross-motions for summary judgment ensued.

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Posted in Co-Ops

Pedestrian Injured By Dogs in Public Park at Hicks and Adams

Posted on July 22, 2024 | Comments Off on Pedestrian Injured By Dogs in Public Park at Hicks and Adams

Was Owner Liable For Injury Caused by Walker Unleashing Canines

On June 23, 2021, Mathew Still  sued Paws & Rec., Inc for damages for personal injury. The verified complaint contained three causes of action. The first was for negligence, the second was for negligent hiring and supervision, and the third was denominated as “respondent superior.”

The verified complaint as amplified by the bill of particulars alleged the following salient facts. On March 22, 2021, at approximately 1:00 p.m., Still was inside a public park in the vicinity of Hicks Street and Amity Street, in Brooklyn, New York. On the same date, and at the same time and place, an employee of Paws was handling several dogs. The dog handler negligently unleashed the dogs, and the unleashed dogs aggressively ran wild and collided with Still causing him to sustain serious physical injuries.

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Posted in Animals, Litigation, New York Law, Personal Injury

Utility Wires Installed Below Ground On Neighbors Property

Posted on July 18, 2024 | Comments Off on Utility Wires Installed Below Ground On Neighbors Property

Was De Minimus  Damage Claim Legally Cognizable?

Andrea Umlas sued Christopher and Patricia Britton, the owners of an adjacent property, for injunctive relief and to recover damages based upon the alleged installation of utility wires below ground on a portion of her property without her permission. The Brittons moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and to sever their counterclaims alleging that Umlas damaged their property. Supreme denied the motion. And the Brittons appealed.

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Posted in Litigation, Real Estate

Men’s BB Player Sues Westchester Community College and Faculty Based on Altered Academic Transcripts

Posted on July 15, 2024 | Comments Off on Men’s BB Player Sues Westchester Community College and Faculty Based on Altered Academic Transcripts

Appeals Court Asked to Reverse Jury  Verdict Finding No Evidence of Wrongdoing by WCC & Faculty

Keith Thomas enrolled in Westchester Community College in the fall of 2011 and soon after began to play for the WCC men’s basketball team. In October 2013, WCC received an anonymous email alleging that Tyrone Mushatt, the head coach of the WCC men’s basketball team, had altered the academic transcripts of his players to help them transfer to other colleges. WCC investigated the allegations in the email and found no evidence of wrongdoing. Prior to the start of the 2014/2015 academic year, Thomas applied to transfer to St. John’s University and was accepted and offered an athletic scholarship. In October 2014, WCC discovered that Mushatt had transmitted forged transcripts to colleges on behalf of players on the WCC men’s basketball team, and that those transcripts misrepresented the credits earned by those players and thus their eligibility status. As part of this fraud, Mushatt directly transmitted a forged transcript on behalf of the Thomas to SJU, which falsely represented that he had earned an associate’s degree at WCC and was thus eligible to play basketball at SJU. In November 2014, SJU determined that Thomas’ application for admission contained material misrepresentations and cancelled his admission.

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Posted in New York Law

Croton-On-Hudson Neighbors Battle Over Cultivated Common Boundary Strip

Posted on July 11, 2024 | Comments Off on Croton-On-Hudson Neighbors Battle Over Cultivated Common Boundary Strip

Did Salzberg or Sena Own The Formerly Unusable Forest Like Area?

Charles Andrew Salzberg and Kenneth Sena owned adjacent parcels of real property in Croton-on-Hudson. Salzberg purchased his property in 2011 from Daniel Scalzi, who had previously owned the property jointly with his former wife, Victoria Manes, until she transferred ownership to him in 2004. According to Scalzi, in 1987, he spent $12,000 clearings a portion of land along the common boundary of the properties, which at that time consisted of unusable forest-like area, and erecting a split rail fence on the strip, so as to integrate it into his lawn. Scalzi asserted that, thereafter and for the duration of his ownership of the property, he cultivated and maintained the strip, which also included a portion of a barbeque pit that had been built onto his property by a predecessor. Scalzi admitted that during the process of clearing the strip and erecting the fence, he realized, upon his discovery of concrete monuments in the ground, that he was over the boundary line of his property and encroaching somewhat onto the neighboring property. However, Scalzi asserted that he never advised the then owners of  Sena’s property or asked their permission to use a portion of their land.

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Posted in New York Law, Real Estate

Owner of Two Adjacent Condominium Units Sought To Enclose Shared Hallway

Posted on July 8, 2024 | Comments Off on Owner of Two Adjacent Condominium Units Sought To Enclose Shared Hallway

Court Determines if Board of Managers Properly Conditioned Approval

Andy Y. Wong sought to enclose the section of hallway between apartments 12G and 12H without paying the fees required by a “hallway takeover” rule adopted by the Board the Board of Managers of the 45 W. 67th St. Condominium. The Board conditioned approval on the payment of $90,00 up front  and an annual fee based upon the square footage of the contemplated enclosure. Litigation ensued. Wong moved for summary judgment. Upon searching the record, Supreme Court denied the motion and ruled in favor of the Board. Wong appealed.

The bylaws permitted unit owners to enclose the hallway between their units “with the consent of the Residential Condominium Committee (which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed).” And authorized unit owners to raze or incorporate certain spaces “which service or enclose only [the unit owner’s] Residential Unit and do not affect access to any other Unit.”

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Posted in Condominiums, Real Estate

Daughter Alleges Mother and Sister Breached Oral Agreement to Share Account Proceeds

Posted on July 4, 2024 | Comments Off on Daughter Alleges Mother and Sister Breached Oral Agreement to Share Account Proceeds

Court Considers If Sibling Improperly Exercised Power of Attorney/Violated GOL 5-1505

In 2011, Claire Pare allegedly entered into an oral agreement with her mother, Doris Pare. Pursuant to the terms of the alleged oral agreement, in exchange for Claire agreeing not to sue her mother over Roth accounts held by her deceased father, Doris  agreed to pay Claire an amount equal to any amounts she paid to Pare’s siblings from certain accounts. The oral agreement, in effect, allegedly required that Doris list Claire as a beneficiary on any transfer upon death accounts to the extent her siblings were beneficiaries.

After learning that Doris had paid each of her siblings at least $10,000 annually for several years while not distributing an equal amount to her, Claire commenced related actions, which were subsequently joined for purposes of discovery and trial. In Action No. 1, Claire sought to recover damages against Doris  for her breach of the alleged oral contract. In Action No. Claire sought damages against her sister, Janice Pare Shirley, who was Doris’ attorney-in-fact by a power of attorney executed by their mother in 2017, for tortious interference with contract, fraud, and violation of General Obligations Law § 5-1505.

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Posted in Litigation, New York Law

Saadia Sues National Society For Breach of Brooklyn Realty Contract

Posted on July 1, 2024 | Comments Off on Saadia Sues National Society For Breach of Brooklyn Realty Contract

Court Decides If Claims Were Barred By Stipulated Damages Limitation

In December 2016, National Society of Hebrew Days Schools Inc. entered into a contract for the sale of certain real property located in Brooklyn to Jack Saadia “or an entity to be formed by him.” 1966 Coney Island, LLC was subsequently formed to purchase the property. Jack Saadia is the principal of the LLC. In May 2018, Saadia and Coney Island commenced an action against National Society for specific performance of the contract. That action was settled pursuant to a stipulation of settlement dated July 23, 2019, which altered certain terms of the contract and set a new closing date of October 24, 2019.  But the parties failed to close.

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Posted in Real Estate