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HEARSAY STATEMENTS IN A MEDICAL RECORD ARE ADMISSIBLE IN A PERSONAL INJURY ACTION WHEN (1) THE STATEMENTS ARE GERMANE TO DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT AND (2) THE STATEMENTS CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE PLAINTIFF (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, affirming the denial of plaintiff’s summary judgment motion, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Connolly, determined that hearsay statements attributed to plaintiff in a medical record were admissible and created a question fact in this Labor Law 240(1) ladder-fall case. Plaintiff alleged he was knocked off an A-frame ladder by a piece of sheetrock. However, the medical record indicated he was on a ladder lifting sheetrock when he felt a pull in his lower back and shoulder. The opinion is comprehensive and offers guidance to the admissibility of hearsay statements in a medical record:

The first page of the Precision Pain medical records contains, among other things, the following statement: “Accident: Patient was on a ladder, was picking up heavy [sheetrock] and felt a pull on his lower back and R shoulder.” On the third and fourth pages, the following three statements appear: “Incident patient described the competent medical cause of this injury? YES. “Are the patient’s complaints consistent with his/her history of injury? YES. “Is the patient’s history of the injury consistent with my objective findings? YES.” * * *

Because we find that the challenged statement was germane to medical diagnosis and treatment, we conclude that it was part of Khaimov’s [the doctor’s] regular business practice to record the challenged statement.

Nevertheless, this conclusion “satisfies only half the test” … . Each participant in the chain producing the challenged statement in the Precision Pain medical records, “from the initial declarant to the final entrant, must be acting within the course of regular business conduct or the declaration must meet the test of some other hearsay exception” … . Firsthand accounts from the patient to the medical provider are presumptively reliable, as the patient has a clear motivation to report accurately … . However, “where the source of the information on the hospital or doctor’s record is unknown, the record is inadmissible” … . * * *

Considering both the plaintiff’s deposition testimony and the statements on the third and fourth pages of the Precision Pain medical records, [defendant] sufficiently established that the plaintiff was the source of the information in the challenged statement … . Pillco v 160 Dikeman St., LLC, 2025 NY Slip Op 04495, Second Dept 7-30-25

Practice Point: Consult this opinion for a comprehensive discussion of the two-prong test for the admissibility of hearsay statements in a medical record.

 

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EVEN WHERE DEFENDANT PLED GUILTY AND WAIVED APPEAL WITH THE UNDERSTANDING HE WILL NOT BE AFFORDED YOUTHFUL OFFENDER STATUS A MOTION TO VACATE THE SENTENCE BASED ON THE JUDGE’S FAILURE TO CONSIDER YOUTHFUL OFFENDER STATUS IS AVAILABLE (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court and vacating defendant’s sentence, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Wan, determined the sentencing judge’s failure to consider defendant’s youthful offender status can be raised in a motion to vacate the sentence, despite the failure to appeal the conviction on that ground. Here defendant pled guilty and waived appeal with the understanding that he would not be afforded youthful offender status:

In this appeal, we must consider whether a defendant who has failed to take a direct appeal from a judgment of conviction and sentence may, in the first instance, seek to set aside his or her sentence pursuant to CPL 440.20 on the ground that the Supreme Court failed to make a determination as to whether the defendant was eligible for youthful offender treatment. We hold that, under such circumstances, a defendant may seek to set aside his or her sentence pursuant to CPL 440.20. * * *

Here, as the People conceded in opposition to the defendant’s motion, the defendant was an “eligible youth” (see CPL 720.10). However, despite the defendant’s status as an “eligible youth,” the Supreme Court failed to make the required youthful offender determination at the sentencing proceeding. Since the court was required to make this determination on the record at sentencing, the court’s failure to follow this statutorily-mandated procedure rendered the defendant’s sentence invalid as a matter of law (see id. § 440.20[1] …). People v Steele, 2025 NY Slip Op 04494, Second Dept 7-30-25

Practice Point: Even where a defendant pleads guilty with the understanding he will not be afforded youthful offender status and waives appeal, the sentencing judge must consider affording defendant youthful offender status. The failure to appeal the conviction is not a bar to a motion to vacate the sentence on this ground.

 

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IN THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION, THE REFEREE’S AFFIDAVIT DID NOT LAY A PROPER FOUNDATION FOR ALL THE DOCUMENTS RELIED UPON; THEREFORE THE REFEREE’S REPORT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined a proper foundation was not laid for the documents supporting the referee’s report:

In computing the amount due, the referee relied upon an affidavit of merit from an authorized signer of PNC Bank, National Association (hereinafter PNC). Although the referee stated in his report that PNC was the plaintiff’s servicer, the documents in the record indicate that the plaintiff and PNC merged into one entity. Although the authorized signer stated in her affidavit that she was personally familiar with the record-keeping practices and procedures of PNC, her employer, she did not state that “she was personally familiar with the record-keeping practices and procedures” of the plaintiff … or that the records of any other entity, such as the plaintiff or a prior loan servicer, “were provided to [PNC] and incorporated into [PNC’s] own records, that [PNC] routinely relied upon such records in its business, or that she had personal knowledge of business practices and procedures of any other relevant entity” … . Consequently, the affidavit did not provide a proper foundation for the business records allegedly submitted with the affidavit. Further, although business records are included in the record, the referee stated that the documents submitted by the plaintiff were the authorized signer’s affidavit “and annexed exhibit: copies of Mortgage and Note,” and the referee did not refer to the business records. National City Mtge. Co. v Wercberger, 2025 NY Slip Op 04488, Second Dept 7-30-25

Practice Point: Consult this decision for an example of common flaws in the evidentiary foundation for documents submitted in support of a referee’s report in a foreclosure proceeding.

 

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THE ZONING BOARD’S DENIAL OF A STREET FRONTAGE VARIANCE WAS NOT SUPPORTED BY SPECIFIC FACTUAL FINDINGS MAKING COURT-REVIEW IMPOSSIBLE; MATTER REMITTED TO THE BOARD (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court and remitting the matter to the town Zoning Board of Appeals, determined the Board must set forth its reasons for denying a variance. Without specific factual support for the denial in the record, court review is impossible:

… [T]he Board failed to sufficiently set forth the specific factual support in the record, or the specific findings, upon which it relied in denying the requested street frontage variance … . Although at the hearing, certain Board members put on the record their individual grounds for denying a street frontage variance, the Board granted the request for an area variance for the same proposed lot, approving the three-lot subdivision. Thus, the record contains inconsistencies between the written determination and the hearing transcript with respect to the grounds for the Board’s determination.

When the Supreme Court, in effect, affirmed the Board’s denial of a street frontage variance, the court improperly “surmised or speculated as to how or why the board reached its determination” … . Accordingly, absent adequate grounds to support the challenged determination, the judgment must be reversed and the matter remitted to the Board so that it may set forth factual findings in proper form … . Matter of Mancuso v Zoning Bd. of Appeals of the Town of Mount Pleasant, 2025 NY Slip Op 04479, Second Dept 7-30-25

Practice Point: A Zoning Board of Appeals must support its ruling with a specific factual record to allow court review. If the record does not support the ruling, the court is forced to speculate. Here the matter was remitted to the Board to make factual findings.​

 

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FILING A REQUEST FOR JUDICIAL INTERVENTION CONSTITUTED TAKING PROCEEDINGS FOR THE ENTRY OF JUDGMENT WITHIN ONE YEAR OF DEFENDANT’S DEFAULT; THE FORECLOSURE ACTION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DISMISSED AS ABANDONED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined this foreclosure action should not have been dismissed as abandoned on the ground plaintiff failed to take action within one year of defendant’s default. In fact plaintiff filed a request for judicial intervention which constituted taking “proceedings for the entry of judgment within one year after the default:”

Pursuant to CPLR 3215(c), “[i]f the plaintiff fails to take proceedings for the entry of judgment within one year after the default, the court shall not enter judgment but shall dismiss the complaint as abandoned . . . unless sufficient cause is shown why the complaint should not be dismissed.” To avoid dismissal pursuant to CPLR 3215(c), “[i]t is not necessary for a plaintiff to actually obtain a default judgment within one year of the default” … . “Rather, ‘as long as proceedings are being taken, and these proceedings manifest an intent not to abandon the case but to seek a judgment, the case should not be subject to dismissal'” … .

Here, the plaintiff demonstrated that, within one year after the defendant’s default, the plaintiff filed a request for judicial intervention that sought a foreclosure settlement conference as mandated by CPLR 3408. “Where, as here, a settlement conference is a necessary prerequisite to obtaining a default judgment (see CPLR 3408[a], [m]), a formal judicial request for such a conference in connection with an ongoing demand for the ultimate relief sought in the complaint constitutes ‘proceedings for entry of judgment’ within the meaning of CPLR 3215(c)” … . U.S. Bank N.A. v Newson, 2025 NY Slip Op 04269, Second Dept 7-23-25

Practice Point: The CPLR does not require a plaintiff to obtain a default judgment within a year of the default to preclude dismissal. Plaintiff need only take some action which indicates it does not intend to abandon the action. Here the filing of a request for judicial intervention was sufficient.

 

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PLAINTIFF, A DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED STUDENT, WAS KNOCKED OVER BY ANOTHER STUDENT; THE DEFENDANT SCHOOL HAS A DUTY TO PROPERLY SUPERVISE ITS STUDENTS; QUESTIONS OF FACT PRECLUDED SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN FAVOR OF DEFENDANT SCHOOL (THE YOUNG ADULT INSTITUTE, INC.) (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined there were questions of fact precluding summary judgment in favor of defendant in this negligent supervision case. Plaintiff, a developmentally disable adult and a member of defendant Young Adult Institute, Inc. (YAI) was knocked over in a parking lot by a fellow student:

Programs such as YAI that provide services to developmentally disabled adults have a duty to adequately supervise such students in their care, “and are liable for foreseeable injuries proximately related to the absence of adequate supervision” … . “‘[I]n determining whether the duty to provide adequate supervision has been breached in the context of injuries caused by the acts of fellow students, it must be established that school authorities had sufficiently specific knowledge or notice of the dangerous conduct which caused injury; that is, that the third-party acts could reasonably have been anticipated'” … . “‘Even if a breach of the duty of supervision is established, it must [also] be demonstrated that such negligence was a proximate cause of the injuries sustained'” … . “‘The test for causation is whether under all the circumstances the chain of events that followed the negligent act or omission was a normal or foreseeable consequence of the situation created by the school’s negligence'” … . Sclafani v Young Adult Inst., Inc., 2025 NY Slip Op 04266, Second Dept 7-23-25

Practice Point: ​A provider of services to developmentally disabled adults has a duty to adequately supervise its students. Here there were questions of fact about whether supervision was adequate. Plaintiff student was knocked over by another student in a parking lot.

 

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PLAINTIFF TRIPPED OVER AN EMPTY MILK CRATE ON A CARPETED FLOOR; THE CONDITION WAS DEEMED “OPEN AND OBVIOUS” AS A MATTER OF LAW ENTITLING DEFENDANTS TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendants were entitled to summary judgment in this slip and fall case on the ground the empty milk crate plaintiff tripped over was an “open and obvious” condition:

The accident occurred in the morning, during one of the plaintiff’s usual daytime shifts. As the plaintiff was walking in a hallway with carpeting she described as “reddish, green-ish . . . earth colors,” she tripped on an empty, black milk crate. By all accounts, the milk crate was an ordinary milk crate and it was not attached to the floor in any way … . * * *

… [T]he hotel defendants established … the empty milk crate was open and obvious, as it was readily observable by those employing the reasonable use of their senses, and was not inherently dangerous under all the existing circumstances … . Raspberry v Best W. JFK Airport Hotel, 2025 NY Slip Op 04264, Second Dept 7-23-25

Practice Point: This decision presents a rare example of a condition which caused a trip and fall, i.e. an empty milk crate on a carpeted floor, deemed “open and obvious” as a matter of law.​

 

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THE JUDGE SHOULD NOT HAVE DELEGATED ITS AUTHORITY TO SET A SCHEDULE FOR MOTHER’S PARENTAL ACCESS TO THE PARTIES IN THIS CUSTODY ACTION (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing (modifying) Family Court, held the judge should not have left it up to mother and the non-family-member (Pierce) who brought the custody petition to determine mother’s parental access:

… [A[ “court may not delegate its authority to determine parental access to either a parent or a child” … . Here, the Family Court improperly delegated the determination of the mother’s parental access to the mother and Pierce. The record reflects that the relationship between Pierce and the mother has deteriorated and reveals troubling interactions between the parties, including one alleged instance where Pierce prevented the mother from visiting the child during a scheduled visitation. Accordingly, we remit the matter … to expeditiously establish both a supervisor for the mother’s parental access with the child as well as a specific schedule for the mother’s parental access in accordance with the best interests of the child that shall be observed by both the mother and Pierce … . Matter of Pierce v Joyner, 2025 NY Slip Op 04250, Second Dept 7-23-25

Practice Point: The court cannot delegate its authority to set up a parental-access schedule to the parties in a custody action.

 

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IN A SLIP AND FALL, PROOF OF GENERAL CLEANING PRACTICES DOES NOT DEMONSTRATE A LACK OF CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE OF THE ALLEGED DANGEROUS CONDITION; ONLY PROOF THE AREA WAS INSPECTED OR CLEANED CLOSE IN TIME TO THE FALL WILL SUFFICE (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendants in this slip and fall case did not demonstrate a lack of constructive notice of the dangerous condition and therefore were not entitled to summary judgment:

… [T]he evidence submitted by the defendants in support of their motion failed to demonstrate, prima facie, that they lacked constructive notice of the allegedly dangerous condition that caused the plaintiff to fall. The defendants’ property manager provided information only as to the building’s general cleaning and inspection practices, and the defendants did not proffer any evidence demonstrating when the staircase was last cleaned or inspected before the plaintiff slipped and fell … . Johnson v 2525-2537 Realty, LLC, 2025 NY Slip Op 04239, Second Dept 7-23-25

Practice Point: In a slip and fall, a lack of constructive notice of the alleged dangerous condition cannot be proved by evidence of general cleaning practices. There must be evidence the area was cleaned or inspected close in time to the fall.

 

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IN A MED MAL ACTION, AN EXPERT’S AFFIRMATION WHICH IS NOT SUPPORTED BY THE RECORD WILL BE DEEMED “CONCLUSORY” AND WILL NOT SUPPORT SUMMARY JUDGMENT (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendants’ motion for summary judgment in this medical malpractice case should not have been granted because the expert affirmation submitted is support of the motion was “conclusory and not supported by the record:”

… [D]efendants failed to establish their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against them. The defendants submitted, inter alia, the affirmation of an expert, whose opinions regarding the defendants’ alleged failure to diagnose the plaintiff’s aortic dissection after receipt of certain X-ray results and blood test results were conclusory and unsupported by the record … . That expert’s opinion regarding proximate cause was also conclusory and insufficient to meet the defendants’ burden as the parties moving for summary judgment … . In v Maimonides Med. Ctr., 2025 NY Slip Op 04238, Second Dept 7-23-25

Practice Point: In a med mal case. an expert affirmation which is not supported by the record will be deemed “conclusory” and insufficient to support summary judgment.

 

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