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STATEMENT IN HOSPITAL RECORD ATTRIBUTED TO PLAINTIFF WAS ADMISSIBLE AS PART OF A BUSINESS RECORD AND AS A PARTY ADMISSION, STATEMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN EXCLUDED FROM TRIAL.

The Second Department determined defendant was entitled to a new trial on liability because a statement attributed to the plaintiff in a hospital report should not have been excluded. Plaintiff alleged she was struck by defendant's vehicle as she walked behind it. The statement attributed to plaintiff indicated only that she fell in the road. The nurse who wrote the statement would have testified the plaintiff made the statement. The statement was admissible as part of a business record (hospital record) because it was germane to treatment or diagnosis. The statement was also admissible as a party admission:

“Such records are admissible if the proponent offers either foundational testimony under CPLR 4518(a) or certification under CPLR 4518(c)” … . The defendants should have been permitted to call the nurse to testify to establish a foundation for the admission of the entry from the hospital record as a business record. A hearsay entry in a hospital record is admissible under the business records exception to the hearsay rule if the entry is germane to the diagnosis or treatment of the patient … . Further, “if the entry is inconsistent with a position taken by a party at trial, it is admissible as an admission by that party, even if it is not germane to diagnosis or treatment, as long as there is evidence connecting the party to the entry'” … . In this case, the nurse, had she been permitted to testify, would have provided the evidence connecting the plaintiff to the entry, and, since the entry was inconsistent with the plaintiff's position at trial, which was that she was struck by the vehicle, the entry would be admissible as a party admission. Berkovits v Chaaya, 2016 NY Slip Op 03131, 2nd Dept 4-27-16


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DEFENSE VERDICT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SET ASIDE, THE JURY FOUND DEFENDANT NEGLIGENT AND THERE WAS NO REASONABLE VIEW OF THE EVIDENCE IN WHICH DEFENDANT’S NEGLIGENCE WAS NOT A PROXIMATE CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT.

The Second Department determined plaintiffs' motion to set aside the defense verdict as against the weight of the evidence should have been granted. Defendant acknowledged she turned right coming out of a parking lot but was looking to her left. Defendant struck the pedestrian plaintiffs. The jury found defendant was negligent but that her negligence was not a proximate cause of the accident. The court noted that the plaintiffs may also have been negligent, but there was no reasonable view of the evidence in which defendant's negligence was not a proximate cause:

… [T]he jury's determination that the defendant's negligence was not a proximate cause of the accident did not rest upon any fair interpretation of the evidence … . The issues of negligence and proximate cause are so inextricably interwoven in this case that the jury's finding that the defendant was negligent cannot be reconciled with its finding that the negligence was not a proximate cause of the accident … . That is, the defendant admitted that she turned right out of a parking lot while looking to her left despite the fact that she knew that pedestrians crossed 71st Avenue at that location to access the parking lot from which she was exiting. Notwithstanding any negligence on the part of the plaintiffs, the defendant's negligence in driving in one direction while looking in the other direction and thereby failing to see pedestrians who were there to be seen in the middle of the street was a substantial, not a slight or trivial, cause of this accident … . Accordingly, although the plaintiffs may also have been negligent, no fair interpretation of the evidence supports the jury's finding that the defendant's negligence was not a proximate cause of the accident. Cruz v Jeffrey, 2016 NY Slip Op 03134, 2nd Dept 4-27-16


PEDESTRIAN IN A CROSSWALK STRUCK FROM BEHIND IS NOT COMPARATIVELY NEGLIGENT AS A MATTER OF LAW.

The First Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Saxe, determined plaintiff pedestrian was not comparatively negligent as a matter of law, and therefore plaintiff's motion for summary judgment should have been granted. Plaintiff was crossing a street in the crosswalk, with the light, when he was struck from behind:

… [W]e hold that as a matter of law, plaintiff, who was struck by a bus that approached from behind and to the right, and which turned left into the crosswalk where it struck plaintiff, may not be held comparatively negligent based on a theory that he could have seen and avoided the bus through the exercise of ordinary care. Quintavalle v Perez, 2016 NY Slip Op 03126, 1st Dept 4-26-16


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VILLAGE DID NOT DEMONSTRATE IT DID NOT CREATE THE CONDITION WHICH LED TO PLAINTIFF’S TRIP AND FALL, SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED.

The Second Department determined defendant village's motion for summary judgment in this slip and fall case should have been denied. Although the village demonstrated it did not have written notice of the stop-sign “stump” over which plaintiff tripped, the village did not demonstrate it did not create the dangerous condition. There was evidence the stump was exposed (not buried) immediately after the village removed the stop sign:

” Where, as here, a municipality has enacted a prior written notice statute, it may not be subjected to liability for injuries caused by an improperly maintained street or sidewalk unless it has received written notice of the defect, or an exception to the written notice requirement applies'” … . ” The only recognized exceptions to the statutory prior written notice requirement involve situations in which the municipality created the defect or hazard through an affirmative act of negligence, or where a special use confers a benefit upon the municipality'” … . The affirmative negligence exception “is limited to work by the City that immediately results in the existence of a dangerous condition” … .

Where, as here, the plaintiff has alleged that the affirmative negligence exception applies, the Village was required to show, prima facie, that the exception does not apply. Although the Village proved 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 … . Kelley v Incorporated Vil. of Hempstead, 2016 NY Slip Op 02966, 2nd Dept 4-20-15


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LATE NOTICE OF CLAIM PROPERLY ALLOWED DESPITE ABSENCE OF EXCUSE.

The Second Department determined a late notice of claim was properly allowed despite the absence of an excuse for the delay in serving the notice. The claim alleged negligence during an emergency cesarean birth at defendant facility. Because the medical records memorialized the event, the delay caused no prejudice to the defendant:

The petitioner established that the appellant had actual knowledge of the essential facts constituting the claim by virtue of its possession of the infant's medical records, which detail her delivery and post-natal care, and established that the delay in serving the notice of claim would not substantially prejudice the appellant in maintaining its defense on the merits. Under those circumstances, the fact that the petitioner could not show a reasonable excuse for the delay does not bar the granting of leave to serve a late notice of claim upon the appellant … . Matter of Benjamin v Nassau Health Care Corp., 2016 NY Slip Op 02989, 2nd Dept 4-20-16


DEFENDANTS FAILED TO DEMONSTRATE WHEN SLIP AND FALL AREA LAST CLEANED OR INSPECTED, SUMMARY JUDGMENT PROPERLY DENIED.

The Second Department determined defendants' (appellants') motion for summary judgment in a slip and fall case was properly denied because the defendants failed to demonstrate when the area was last cleaned or inspected:

Here, the appellants failed to establish, prima facie, their entitlement to judgment as a matter of law on the ground that they did not have constructive notice of any hazardous condition. Although the appellants presented evidence that they neither created nor had actual notice of the alleged condition, they failed to demonstrate that they did not have constructive notice of the alleged condition, as they failed to tender any evidence establishing when the subject area was last inspected prior to the plaintiff's alleged accident … . James v Orion Condo-350 W. 42nd St., LLC, 2016 NY Slip Op 02964, 2nd Dept 4-20-16


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THE CITY (NYC) HAD ENTERED A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH DEFENDANT PROPERTY OWNERS CONCERNING THE REPAIR OF A DEFECTIVE SIDEWALK, DEFENDANTS WERE ENTITLED TO CONTRIBUTION FROM THE CITY IN THIS SLIP AND FALL CASE.

The Second Department determined defendant property owners, the Bilellos, were entitled to contribution from the city (NYC), based upon a special relationship with the city, in a sidewalk slip and fall case. Tree roots had raised the sidewalk in front of the Bilellos property. The city issued a notice of violation to the Bilellos and the Bilellos were told by the city not to touch the sidewalk until a plan for repair was developed by the city. The Department of Forestry never got in touch with the Bilellos and plaintiff tripped and fell over the defect 11 months after the Bilellos' last communication from the city:

Here, it is undisputed that the City did not owe a direct duty of care to the plaintiff, because the 2003 enactment of Administrative Code of City New York 7-210 shifted liability for injuries arising from sidewalk defects from the City to the abutting property owner … . However, if the City owed an independent, special duty to the Bilellos, it may be held liable “for the portion of the damage attributable to [its] negligence, despite the fact that the duty violated was not one owing directly to the injured person” … . “Such a duty is found when a special relationship exists between the municipality and an individual or class of persons warranting the imposition of a duty to use reasonable care for those persons' benefit” … . To establish the existence of a special relationship based on a municipality's voluntary assumption of a duty, the party asserting the relationship has a heavy burden to prove the following elements: (1) an assumption by the municipality, through promises or actions, of an affirmative duty to act on behalf of the party; (2) knowledge on the part of the municipality's agents that inaction could lead to harm; (3) some form of direct contact between the municipality's agents and the party; and (4) the party's justifiable reliance on the municipality's affirmative undertaking … . Stanciu v Bilello, 2016 NY Slip Op 02802, 2nd Dept 4-13-16


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RADIOLOGIST WAS NOT QUALIFIED TO EXPRESS AN OPINION ON THE PROXIMATE CAUSE OF THE DEFORMITY WHICH WAS ALLEGED TO HAVE RESULTED FROM A FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE A FRACTURE. 

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the defendants in a medical malpractice action were entitled to summary judgment dismissing the complaint as against them. The complaint alleged defendant radiologist failed to diagnose a fractured finger, which was the proximate cause of a deformity. In opposition to defendants' motion for summary judgment, the plaintiff offered an affidavit from a radiologist, Dr. Tantleff, who was qualified to evaluate the alleged failed diagnosis, but was not qualified to find the failed diagnosis was the proximate cause of the deformity (an orthopedic matter). Therefore the defendants were entitled to summary judgment:

Here, Dr. Tantleff's opinion as to proximate cause was related to the specialty of orthopedics, but Dr. Tantleff failed to state any basis on which he could be found competent to opine in that area. Therefore he was not qualified to render an opinion that Fong's failure to diagnose the plaintiff's nondisplaced fracture proximately caused the alleged orthopedic injuries … . Moreover, his assertion was speculative, as he cited to no record evidence to support his opinion that the plaintiff's alleged injuries were due to the undiagnosed fracture … . Martinez v Quintana, 2016 NY Slip Op 02782, 2nd Dept 4-13-16


FACT THAT PLAINTIFF WAS RIDING HIS BICYCLE THE WRONG WAY ON A ONE-WAY STREET WHEN HE WAS STRUCK DID NOT ENTITLE DEFENDANT TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT, THERE CAN BE MORE THAN ONE PROXIMATE CAUSE OF AN ACCIDENT.

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined plaintiff's complaint should not have been dismissed. Plaintiff was injured when he was struck by a forklift as he was riding his bicycle the wrong way on a one-way street. Although plaintiff was negligent, the defendant failed to affirmatively demonstrate the forklift operator was free from negligence:

While the plaintiff was negligent in traveling the wrong way on a one-way street (see Vehicle and Traffic Law §§ 1127[a]; 1231, 1234[a]), there can be more than one proximate cause of an accident … . A defendant moving for summary judgment has the burden of establishing freedom from fault in the happening of the accident … . Thus, the fact that the plaintiff was riding his bicycle in the wrong direction on a one-way street would not preclude a finding that negligence by the defendant's employee contributed to the accident … .

Here, the defendant failed to meet its prima facie burden of establishing the forklift operator's freedom from fault in the happening of this accident as a matter of law … . The papers the defendant submitted in support of its motion demonstrated the existence of triable issues of fact as to whether the forklift operator failed to exercise due care before proceeding from the driveway onto the street (see Vehicle and Traffic Law §§ 1143, 1146[a]; 1173…). Nunez v Olympic Fence & Railing Co., Inc., 2016 NY Slip Op 02791, 2nd Dept 4-13-16


DEPRESSED DRAIN NEAR CONDOMINIUM ENTRANCE WAS A NON-ACTIONABLE TRIVIAL DEFECT.

The Second Department determined that a depressed drain near the entrance to a condominium was a non-actionable trivial defect:

 

“Generally, whether a dangerous or defective condition exists depends on the particular facts of each case, and is properly a question of fact for the jury unless the defect is trivial as a matter of law” … . “[I]njuries resulting from trivial defects, not constituting a trap or nuisance, over which a pedestrian might merely stumble, stub his or her toes, or trip are not actionable” … . In determining whether a defect is trivial, the court must examine all of the facts presented, including the “width, depth, elevation, irregularity and appearance of the defect along with the time, place, and circumstance of the injury” … .

“[T]here is no minimal dimension test' or per se rule that a defect must be of a certain minimum height or depth in order to be actionable” … . “[G]ranting summary judgment to a defendant based exclusively on the dimension[s] of the . . . defect is unacceptable'” … . Thus, “a holding of triviality [is] to be based on all the specific facts and circumstances of the case, not size alone” … .

“A defendant seeking dismissal of a complaint on the basis that the alleged defect is trivial must make a prima facie showing that the defect is, under the circumstances, physically insignificant and that the characteristics of the defect or the surrounding circumstances do not increase the risks it poses” … . Only once the defendant meets its burden, will the burden shift to the plaintiff to establish an issue of fact … . Maldonado v 2121 Shore Condominium, 2016 NY Slip Op 02780, 2nd Dept 4-13-16


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