Category Archives: Personal Injury

This was originally published on the SGR Blog.

The Copacabana nightclub, which opened in 1940 and recently closed due to the pandemic, was legendary for many things: Danny Thomas. Martin & Lewis. A New York Yankees brawl. And, as recent cases illustrate, despite the Copa’s physical demise, the legacy survives in the courtroom if not in a ballroom.

Kayla Pedraza alleged that, while a patron of Copacabana Nightclub, she slipped and fell due to “wetness and ice on the floor” and suffered a severe ankle fracture. The Copa moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint arguing that Pedraza could not establish a prima facie claim of negligence because she could not identify the cause of her fall or demonstrate that the club had any notice of the alleged unobserved condition. Pedraza argued that the Copa had notice of the recurrent dangerous condition that they created.

This was originally published on the SGR Blog.

With the onset of warm weather, cyclists will again take to the road. As with almost every other form of recreation, biking provides a fertile ground for accidents, finger pointing and litigation of both simple and complex issues. Some recent examples follow.

On November 12, 2017, Frank Marzan was involved in an accident in or near a Manhattan intersection that caused him to sustain significant personal injuries. Marzan alleged that Marilyn J. Levine, a pedestrian, stepped into the bicycle lane in which Marzan was riding his bicycle, causing him to maneuver abruptly to avoid Levine and, in the process, strike nearby construction fencing. Levine maintained that she was crossing a street in a crosswalk with a pedestrian crossing signal in her favor, Marzan failed to yield the right of way to Levine and that Marzan is solely (or at least significantly) to blame for his claimed injuries.