Author: admin

DSB was successful in federal court, in the Eastern District of New York, in obtaining summary judgment on all claims on behalf of a Town on Long Island’s east end and its employees in an action brought by a plaintiff pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §1983 alleging several constitutional violations.  The federal District Judge adopted the report and recommendation of the federal Magistrate Judge in rejecting plaintiff’s claims for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and Monell liability, as well as several state law claims, arising from plaintiff’s arrest and prosecution for lewd conduct committed at the Town’s golf course.   The complaint against the Town and its employees was dismissed in its entirety.

DSB successfully appealed from an interlocutory liability judgment involving a plaintiff who was injured when the bicycle he was riding struck the edge of an elevated boardwalk in a municipal park. The Appellate Division, Second Department agreed that the municipal defendant did not have prior written notice of any alleged defect and that its actions in mowing the grass near the boardwalk did not affirmatively create a defective or dangerous condition. The matter was remanded for a new trial on liability.

DSB was successful in moving for summary judgment on behalf of a municipality on Long Island.  Plaintiff, an insurance company subrogated to its insured driver’s rights, claimed that they were owed reimbursement for damages paid as the result of a motor vehicle accident between their insured and a municipal highway vehicle.  The Court, in dismissing the case, found that the municipal vehicle was engaged in work upon a highway and was thus entitled to the protections of Vehicle and Traffic Law Sec. 1103(b), which requires a showing of reckless conduct; the Court further concluded that the actions of the driver of the municipal vehicle, while perhaps inattentive, did not rise to the level of recklessness as a matter of law.

DSB was successful in moving for summary judgment on behalf of a Suffolk County school district. Plaintiff, a high school student, was injured while attending an off campus BOCES program. The Court determined that the District did not owe plaintiff a duty of care as plaintiff was not within their orbit of authority and was not injured on District property. The court further concluded that the student’s status as a special education student did not create a special duty towards him under the circumstances.

DSB was successful in moving for summary judgment on behalf of a construction company in Queens County. The plaintiff was allegedly injured when he tripped and fell over an uneven slab of sidewalk. The court found that the defendant neither owned, occupied, controlled nor made special use of the subject property and dismissed the complaint and cross-claims asserted against the defendant.

DSB was successful in Supreme Court, Suffolk County, in obtaining the dismissal of an Article 78 petition challenging a September 24, 2018 decision of the Zoning Board of Appeals of a town on Long Island’s east end, denying petitioner’s application for a variance to move an existing shed and an existing barn to a non-conforming area of the property and to construct a “hoop house” in a non-conforming area of the property. The Court determined that there were alternate locations on the property where the structures could be repositioned. The Court agreed that the ZBA’s determination had a rational basis and was neither arbitrary and capricious nor an abuse of discretion.

Firm Counsel Scott J. Kreppein’s article entitled “Housing Discrimination: Navigating The Landscape for Local Govt’s” was published in the January 8, 2020 edition of the New York Law Journal. To read the article, click here.

Devitt Spellman Barrett, LLP is proud to announce that David S. Pallai has been elected Equity Partner of the firm.  David, a successful trial attorney who started with DSB as Counsel in 2004, continues to handle complex casualty, insurance, and municipal defense cases through verdict.  David leads the firm’s team of attorneys in its Garden City office.

DSB was successful in opposing an appeal of an order granting summary judgment to a Suffolk County municipality regarding a case involving labor law claims.  The Appellate Division, Second Department, agreed with a lower court decision where it was determined that a labor law plaintiff was not entitled to recovery from the municipality in that the municipality did not contract for the plaintiff’s services, or have an interest in the loss location.  The Appellate Division also rejected the plaintiff’s argument that the motion was premature.

DSB successfully opposed a motion for summary judgment by a Plaintiff on a restrictive covenant claim.  The plaintiff alleged that the defendant violated a restrictive covenant prohibiting fences exceeding four-feet in height.  The Suffolk County Judge who decided the motion agreed with this firm’s argument that the covenant had been ignored by other owners, including the plaintiff, and had outlived its usefulness.  As such, this firm had raised triable issues of fact sufficient to defeat the plaintiff’s motion.