ABUTTING PROPERTY OWNER ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN THIS SIDEWALK SLIP AND FALL CASE, ALTHOUGH THE LOCAL CODE REQUIRED THE PROPERTY OWNER TO KEEP SIDEWALKS IN GOOD REPAIR, IT DID NOT IMPOSE TORT LIABILITY ON THE PROPERTY OWNER (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department determined the defendant abutting property owner’s motion for summary judgment in this sidewalk slip and fall case was properly granted. The property owner proved it did not create the sidewalk defect and the local code which required abutting property owners to keep sidewalks in good repair did not explicitly impose tort liability on the property owner:
“Generally, liability for injuries sustained as a result of negligent maintenance of or the existence of dangerous [or] defective conditions to public sidewalks is placed on the municipality and not the abutting landowner” … . “An abutting landowner will be liable to a pedestrian injured by a defect in a public sidewalk only when the owner either created the condition or caused the defect to occur because of a special use, or when a statute or ordinance places an obligation to maintain the sidewalk on the owner and expressly makes the owner liable for injuries caused by a breach of that duty” … .
Here, Water View established, prima facie, that it did not create the alleged condition or cause the condition through a special use of the sidewalk. Additionally, although … the Code of the Village of Freeport requires an abutting landowner to keep a sidewalk in good and safe repair, it does not specifically impose tort liability for a breach of that duty … . Bousquet v Water View Realty Corp., 2018 NY Slip Op 03119, Second Dept 5-2-18
NEGLIGENCE (SLIP AND FALL, SIDEWALKS, ABUTTING PROPERTY OWNER ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN THIS SIDEWALK SLIP AND FALL CASE, ALTHOUGH THE LOCAL CODE REQUIRED THE PROPERTY OWNER TO KEEP SIDEWALKS IN GOOD REPAIR, IT Did NOT IMPOSE TORT LIABILITY ON THE PROPERTY OWNER (SECOND DEPT))/MUNICIPAL LAW (SLIP AND FALL, SIDEWALKS, ABUTTING PROPERTY OWNER ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN THIS SIDEWALK SLIP AND FALL CASE, ALTHOUGH THE LOCAL CODE REQUIRED THE PROPERTY OWNER TO KEEP SIDEWALKS IN GOOD REPAIR, IT Did NOT IMPOSE TORT LIABILITY ON THE PROPERTY OWNER (SECOND DEPT))/SIDEWALKS (SLIP AND FALL, ABUTTING PROPERTY OWNER ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN THIS SIDEWALK SLIP AND FALL CASE, ALTHOUGH THE LOCAL CODE REQUIRED THE PROPERTY OWNER TO KEEP SIDEWALKS IN GOOD REPAIR, IT Did NOT IMPOSE TORT LIABILITY ON THE PROPERTY OWNER (SECOND DEPT))