Category Archives: Personal Injury

Dog Chasing Cat Provokes Additional Insured/Vicious Propensities Imbroglio

Posted on August 24, 2020 | Comments Off on Dog Chasing Cat Provokes Additional Insured/Vicious Propensities Imbroglio

This post originally appeared on the SGR Blog.

Scenario: Dog chases a cat. Guest gets caught in cable securing the dog. Dog owner and guest are significant others. Accident occurs at their former abode where he (but not she) then resides. Victim asserts claim on homeowners’ policy. Carrier disclaims. And (of course) litigation ensues.

Jo Ann Davis was injured on April 23, 2017 when visiting the house owned and occupied by Timothy Phillips at 11 East Avenue in Cortland. Davis fell after becoming entangled in the cable securing Phillips’s dog (Sam) just as the canine began to chase a cat.

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

What is a (Door) Man to Do? Level of Lobby Care Required After a Storm

Posted on May 18, 2020 | Comments Off on What is a (Door) Man to Do? Level of Lobby Care Required After a Storm

This was originally posted on the SGR Blog.

When it rains it pours. And sometimes litigation en(sues).

Janice Kasni lived at 30 Lincoln Plaza located on 30 West 63rd Street. Shortly after midnight, Kasni returned from an evening out, when she slipped and fell on the floor of the lobby. It had rained for much of day before the accident and long brown rugs had been placed from the doors to the lobby to the elevator bank.

When Kasni entered the building, she stepped onto the rug in front of the door and then headed left towards a couch that was near the entrance—and stepped off the rug and slipped on the floor.

Kasni testified at her deposition that she had taken up to two steps when both feet went out from under her and she fell backwards, flat onto her back. Prior to stepping on to the floor, she saw “the marble floor, that’s all.” Kasni did not notice any water or wet spots. Only after coming in from the rain, falling and lying on the floor, did Kasni first notice water on the marble floor. The water she saw was clear and was like a small puddle. Kasni was unable able to provide dimensions of the puddle and did not know how long the puddle had been there.

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Posted in Condominiums, Litigation, Litigation, New York Law, Personal Injury, Real Estate

On a Bicycle Built…to Sue

Posted on March 2, 2020 | Comments Off on On a Bicycle Built…to Sue

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.

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Posted in Litigation, New York Law, Personal Injury