You are here: / / Business Not Liable for Slip and Fall on Abutting Icy Sidewalk/”Special U...

Business Not Liable for Slip and Fall on Abutting Icy Sidewalk/”Special Use” Doctrine Explained

The Fourth Department determined the defendant funeral home could not be held liable for the plaintiff’s fall on an icy sidewalk in front of the home.  There was no statute or ordinance imposing liability on the abutting landowner (as opposed to the municipality), the funeral home did not derive a special use from the sidewalk, and the funeral home did not create or exacerbate the dangerous condition. In explaining the “special use” doctrine, the court wrote:

Under the special use doctrine, a landowner whose property abuts a public sidewalk may be liable for injuries that are caused by a defect in the sidewalk when the municipality has given the landowner permission to “interfere with a street solely for private use and convenience in no way connected with the public use” and the landowner fails to maintain the sidewalk in a reasonably safe condition … .  “A special use is typically characterized by the installation of some object in the sidewalk or street or some variance in the construction thereof” … . Here, defendants established that the sidewalk was unencumbered by the installation of any objects or by other variances in construction, and plaintiff submitted no evidence that “the sidewalk was constructed in a special manner for the benefit of the abutting owner or occupier”… . Panzica v Fantauzzi…, 863, 4th Dept 9-27-13

 

You might also like
PETITIONER DID NOT DEMONSTRATE THE NEGLECT PETITION WAS PROPERLY MAILED TO MOTHER AND MOTHER PRESENTED EVIDENCE REBUTTING THE PROCESS SERVER’S AFFIDAVIT; A HEARING ON WHETHER MOTHER WAS PROPERLY SERVED IS REQUIRED (FOURTH DEPT).
THE MAJORITY NOTED THAT A DECISION IS NOT AN APPEALABLE PAPER BUT HELD THE DECISION HERE IN THIS DIVORCE CASE MET THE ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS OF AN ORDER AND WAS THEREFORE APPEALABLE; THE DISSENT DISAGREED (FOURTH DEPT).
Questions of Fact Raised About Labor Law 240(1), 240(6) and 200 Causes of Action—Labor Law 200 Actions Are Not Limited to Construction Work (Question of Fact About Unsafe Work Site Will Support Labor Law 200 Cause of Action)
THE FOR CAUSE CHALLENGE TO A PROSPECTIVE JUROR WHO SAID HE WOULD BE INCLINED TO BELIEVE THE TESTIMONY OF POLICE OFFICERS SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED (FOURTH DEPT).
DEFENDANT’S VEHICLE WAS STRUCK BY A VEHICLE WHICH WAS BEING CHASED BY POLICE AND WHICH FAILED TO OBEY A STOP SIGN; DEFENDANT WAS ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT; TWO-JUSTICE DISSENT (FOURTH DEPT).
Pedigree Question “Where Do You Reside,” Under the Circumstances, Was Designed to Elicit an Incriminating Response, the Answer, Therefore, Should Have Been Suppressed; New Trial on Possessory Counts Ordered
THE INITIAL PROSECUTOR IN DEFENDANT’S CASE BECAME THE TRIAL JUDGE’S LAW CLERK; DEFENDANT WAS NOT INFORMED AND WAIVED HIS RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL; THE WAIVER WAS NOT ‘KNOWINGLY’ AND ‘INTELLIGENTLY’ MADE (FOURTH DEPT).
ROBBERY WAS THE FELONY UPON WHICH THE FELONY ASSAULT WAS PREDICATED; THEREFORE THE SENTENCES FOR ASSAULT FIRST AND ROBBERY FIRST MUST RUN CONCURRENTLY (FOURTH DEPT).

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2026 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

No Appeal Lies from an Order Entered Upon a Default Storm in Progress Doctrine Warranted Summary Judgment to Defendant in Slip and...