CITY DID NOT DEMONSTRATE IT DID NOT CREATE THE ROADWAY DEPRESSION WHICH CAUSED PLAINTIFF’S BICYCLE ACCIDENT, SUMMARY JUDGMENT PROPERLY DENIED.
The Second Department determined the city’s motion for summary judgment in this bicycle accident case was properly denied. Although the city demonstrated it did not receive written notice of the alleged defective condition (a depression in the road), the city did not demonstrate it did not create the defective condition when street work was done:
Where, as here, the plaintiff has alleged that the affirmative negligence exception applies, the City was required to show, prima facie, that the exception does not apply … . Although the City established that it did not receive prior written notice of the alleged defect, it failed to establish, prima facie, that it did not create the alleged defect when its Sewer Maintenance Department opened up the street in the area of the plaintiff’s fall prior to the accident … . Since the City did not establish its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law, the burden never shifted to the plaintiff to submit evidence sufficient to raise a triable issue of fact. Lewak v Town of Hempstead, 2017 NY Slip Op 01189, 2nd Dept 2-15-17
NEGLIGENCE (MUNICIPAL LAW, CITY DID NOT DEMONSTRATE IT DID NOT CREATE THE ROADWAY DEPRESSION WHICH CAUSED PLAINTIFF’S BICYCLE ACCIDENT, SUMMARY JUDGMENT PROPERLY DENIED)/MUNICIPAL LAW (NEGLIGENCE, CITY DID NOT DEMONSTRATE IT DID NOT CREATE THE ROADWAY DEPRESSION WHICH CAUSED PLAINTIFF’S BICYCLE ACCIDENT, SUMMARY JUDGMENT PROPERLY DENIED)/BICYCLE ACCIDENT (MUNICIPAL LAW, CITY DID NOT DEMONSTRATE IT DID NOT CREATE THE ROADWAY DEPRESSION WHICH CAUSED PLAINTIFF’S BICYCLE ACCIDENT, SUMMARY JUDGMENT PROPERLY DENIED)/HIGHWAYS AND ROADS (NEGLIGENCE, MUNICIPAL LAW, CITY DID NOT DEMONSTRATE IT DID NOT CREATE THE ROADWAY DEPRESSION WHICH CAUSED PLAINTIFF’S BICYCLE ACCIDENT, SUMMARY JUDGMENT PROPERLY DENIED)