DSB obtained summary judgment in Supreme Court, Suffolk County, on behalf of a local school district. The minor plaintiff was struck by a motor vehicle and suffered injuries after leaving his high school. Plaintiff alleged that the school district’s failure to provide crossing guards and to otherwise supervise the minor plaintiff was a cause of their injuries. DSB argued that the accident occurred off of school grounds and outside of the orbit of its authority. The Supreme Court, Suffolk County, agreed and held that the incident occurred when the minor plaintiff was off school property, after being dismissed from an after-school science fair, and beyond the orbit of the school’s authority, and accordingly, the complaint was dismissed.
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June 6, 2024
DSB obtained summary judgment in Supreme Court, Suffolk County, on behalf of a local municipality. The plaintiff slipped and fell at a municipal boat dock. Plaintiff alleged that the sole cause of their injuries was the municipality’s negligence in maintaining the ramp. DSB argued that the municipality did not have prior written notice of the purported defect, that the plaintiff assumed the risk of injury, and that the alleged defect was open and obvious. The Supreme Court, Suffolk County, agreed and held that the municipality had not received prior written notice of the alleged defect therefore it could not be subjected to liability for plaintiff’s injuries, and that the slippery condition of the boat ramp was open and obvious and was a risk inherent in the activity, and accordingly, the complaint was dismissed.
April 1, 2024
DSB obtained summary judgment in Supreme Court, Suffolk County, on behalf of a local municipality. The plaintiff tripped and fell at a fireworks show held in a local park. Plaintiff alleged that the municipality was negligent in not providing proper lighting at the event. DSB argued that the municipality neither owned nor controlled the site of the incident. The Supreme Court, Suffolk County, agreed and held that the municipality was not responsible for any of the conditions at the subject park, and accordingly, the complaint was dismissed.
March 28, 2024
DSB moved into our new offices in Hauppauge, New York, more centrally-located on Long Island. We have beautiful newly-renovated space in a Class A building that suits our needs for many years to come.
January 10, 2024
DSB was successful on a motion to renew a prior summary judgment motion on a Kings County Labor Law case. Plaintiff allegedly fell from an extension ladder while performing exterior façade work at our client’s home. Plaintiff claimed the accident occurred because the extension ladder failed and collapsed. As a result of the accident, plaintiff underwent had an L1-L2 laminectomy, and a T11-L4 posterior fusion with instrumentation. This firm had previously filed a summary judgment motion before depositions, the result of which was a dismissal of the Labor Law section 240 and 241 claims based on the homeowner’s exception. However, based on an affidavit of plaintiff that swore our client owned the ladder, the common law and Labor Law section 200 aspects of the motion were denied. During plaintiff’s deposition, he admitted that he never read the affidavit, which was in English, and that the basis of the affidavit was not his own knowledge. He also admitted at the deposition that there was no indication the ladder would fail before the accident. After the deposition, we filed a motion to renew, which was granted and dismissed the remainder of the claims based on lack of notice of any defect.
December 27, 2023
DSB obtained an Order from the Appellate Division, Second Department, reducing a damages award for past pain and suffering by more than half, from $634,000 to $300,000. The 20-year old Plaintiff had been rear-ended by a bus in a mall parking lot, and claimed that she sustained two cervical disc herniations that significantly limited the range of motion in her neck and caused tingling and spasms in one of her arms. The trial judge declined to disturb the jury’s verdict, but on appeal DSB’s municipal defense team successfully argued that the jury’s award deviated so materially from reasonable compensation that it needed to either be reduced to an amount comparable to what has been awarded in prior cases for similar injuries or remanded for a new trial on damages.
December 11, 2023
DSB obtained a dismissal of third-party claims against a snow removal contractor in a case involving personal injuries alleged by plaintiff while traversing her employer’s “side drive up” for an ATM machine. DSB’s expert, a forensic meteorologist, through certified weather records, photographs and deposition testimony was able to prove that it had only stopped snowing about an hour and a half before Plaintiff’s accident. The Court held that the alleged hazardous condition that caused plaintiff’s accident resulted from a “storm in progress” and the third party defendant, snow removal company, did not have an adequate period of time following the storm to remedy the hazardous conditions.
December 11, 2023
DSB obtained an Order upholding the validity of a local law through which a Long Island town re-zoned five acres of town-owned land for use as affordable housing. Among other things, locals who challenged the measure, argued that the land had been implicitly dedicated as a public park and thus, under the public trust doctrine, required State approval before being put to a different purpose. Initially, the Court issued a temporary restraining Order preventing the Town from moving forward with considering bids from developers; but, after careful consideration, the Court agreed that the Town was able to re-zone the parcel for affordable housing without needing to request State approval and that the local law had been validly passed by the Town Board.
December 1, 2023
DSB obtained summary judgment on behalf of a residential property owner in Bronx County, New York in a personal injury action involving an infant who was injured due to a falling flower planter on a wall. The infant Plaintiff climbed onto the exterior wall and the flower planter dislodged and fell onto him. The Court held there was no evidence that the planter was inherently dangerous and defective and the homeowner could not reasonably be expected to guard against plaintiff’s decision to climb a wall when there was a safe means of egress available to the child.
November 30, 2023
DSB obtained an order partially awarding summary judgment in favor of a real estate brokerage in a contract/commission dispute. After the client received a 6-figure commission from the sale of a commercial property, the prior owner of an office it had acquired claimed that even though they were not involved in the deal they were entitled to the commission based upon an argument that the listing violated a covenant not to compete. The Court found at least a technical violation of the non-compete clause, but dismissed the action to the extent seeking disgorgement of the commission itself and ruled that the plaintiff’s damages, if any, would be limited to provable lost profits caused by the breach.
