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DEFENDANT DRIVER’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN THIS PEDESTRIAN-ACCIDENT CASE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED; PLAINTIFF’S EIGHT-YEAR-OLD SON WAS MORE THAN HALFWAY ACROSS THE STREET WHEN STRUCK (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendant driver’s motion for summary judgment in this pedestrian accident cause should not have been granted. Plaintiff’s eight-year-old son was struck by defendant and there was evidence the child was more than halfway across the road at the time he was struck:

… [T]he evidence submitted by the defendant in support of her motion, including a transcript of her own deposition testimony, failed to eliminate triable issues of fact as to whether she was free from fault in the happening of the accident and, if not free from fault, whether the child’s purported negligence was the sole proximate cause of the accident … . The evidence the defendant submitted indicated that the front passenger side of her vehicle came into contact with the child who, approaching from the defendant’s left, was more than halfway across the winding and curved roadway prior to impact (see Vehicle and Traffic Law §§ 1146[a], 1180[a], [e] …). Sage v Taylor, 2021 NY Slip Op 04048, Second Dept 6-23-21

 

MURDER SECOND DISMISSED AS INCLUSORY CONCURRENT COUNT OF MURDER FIRST (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department noted that the murder second degree conviction should have been dismissed as an inclusory concurrent count of murder first degree:

… [T]he defendant’s conviction of murder in the second degree pursuant to Penal Law § 125.25(1) under count 2 of the indictment, as well as the sentence imposed thereon, must be vacated and that count dismissed because that charge constitutes an inclusory concurrent count of the conviction of murder in the first degree pursuant to Penal Law § 125.27(1)(a)(viii) (see CPL 300.40[3][b] …). People v Morel, 2021 NY Slip Op 04032, Second Dept 6-23-21

 

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DEFENDANT RADIOLOGIST WAS ASKED TO EVALUATE A MAMMOGRAM AS A ROUTINE-SCREENING PROCEDURE AND, ACCORDING TO HIS EXPERT, DID SO IN ACCORDANCE WITH ACCEPTED PRACTICES; PLAINTIFF WAS DIAGNOSED WITH BREAST CANCER A YEAR LATER; THE RADIOLOGIST’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED; EXTENSIVE DISSENT (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, over an extensive dissent, determined the radiologist’s motion for summary judgment in this medical malpractice (failure to diagnose) action should have been granted. The radiologist was asked to evaluate a “routine-screening” mammogram and indicated there were no suspicious findings. A year later plaintiff was diagnosed with breast cancer and she died a little more than three years after that. From the radiologist’s perspective, the Second Department concluded, there was nothing to indicate that cancer was suspected and that anything more than a routine-screening was prescribed by plaintiff’s physician:

“Although physicians owe a general duty of care to their patients, that duty may be limited to those medical functions undertaken by the physician and relied on by the patient” … . “The question of whether a physician owes a duty to the plaintiff is a question for the court, and is not an appropriate subject for expert opinion” … .

Here, the radiology defendants established, prima facie, that [defendant] Blumberg discharged his duty to the decedent in accordance with accepted practice for radiologists … . Siegel-Goldman, the radiology defendants’ expert, concluded that Blumberg’s interpretation of the April 21, 2010 mammogram was in conformity with accepted practices. …

… [T}he mere fact that the decedent indicated on the mammography worksheet that she experienced some pain in her left breast did not impose a heightened duty of care on Blumberg, who never saw or treated the decedent, and whose only role was to interpret the mammography images and report his findings to the prescribing physician … . Mann v Okere, 2021 NY Slip Op 04014, Second Dept 6-23-21

 

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NO ONE, INCLUDING DEFENDANT DRIVER, SAW THE 17-MONTH-OLD BEFORE HEARING A LOUD “THUMP” AND FINDING THE CHILD LYING BEHIND DEFENDANT’S CAR; DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendant driver did not eliminate all questions of fact about whether she was negligence. Defendant driver heard a loud “thump” and plaintiff’s decedent, a 17-month old child, was found lying on the ground right behind defendant’s car. No one saw the impact:

Shortly before the accident, the driver had dropped off a passenger in a residential cul-de-sac, with several young children playing nearby. After pulling into a driveway and reversing out in the opposite direction, the driver began moving her vehicle forward again when she heard a loud “thump”—which was also heard by at least four other witnesses in the vicinity. Believing that her vehicle had come into contact with a parked car to her right, the driver began reversing her vehicle when a man outside urgently directed her to stop. Upon exiting the vehicle, the driver observed the infant lying on the ground “right behind” her vehicle, on the passenger side. The infant was taken to a hospital, where she died of her injuries the following day. The driver did not see the infant prior to the accident, and the record does not indicate that anyone actually observed the contact between the infant and the defendants’ vehicle. …

Under the circumstances presented, the evidence submitted by the defendants was insufficient to meet their prima facie burden of proof, since it failed to eliminate all triable issues of fact regarding the driver’s alleged negligence, including her ability to see the infant prior to the accident … . Danziger v Elias, 2021 NY Slip Op 04008, Second Dept 6-22-21

 

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HEIGHT DIFFERENTIAL BETWEEN TWO ADJACENT SIDEWALK SLABS WAS A TRIVIAL DEFECT AS A MATTER OF LAW; SLIP AND FALL ACTION DISMISSED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the alleged one-inch height-differential in adjacent sidewalk slabs was not actionable in this slip and fall case:

A property owner may not be held liable for trivial defects, not constituting a trap or nuisance, over which a pedestrian might merely stumble, stub his or her toes, or trip … . “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 then does the burden shift to the plaintiff to establish an issue of fact” … . 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” … . There is no “minimal dimension test” or “per se rule” that the condition must be of a certain height or depth in order to be actionable … . “Photographs which fairly and accurately represent the accident site may be used to establish that a defect is trivial and not actionable” … .

Here, in support of its motion, the defendant submitted, inter alia, the transcripts of the plaintiff’s testimony from a hearing pursuant to General Municipal Law § 50-h and her deposition testimony as well as photographs of the alleged defective sidewalk, which established, prima facie, that the height differential between the two slabs of abutting concrete that constituted the sidewalk was physically insignificant and that the characteristics of the defect or the surrounding circumstances did not increase the risks it posed … . Boesch v Comsewogue Sch. Dist., 2021 NY Slip Op 04007, Second Dept 6-23-21

 

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THE CITY CHARTER PROVISION DID NOT PROVIDE FOR NOTICE OF A PENDING TAX FORECLOSURE SALE TO MORTGAGEES AND THEREBY VIOLATED THE MORTGAGEE’S DUE PROCESS RIGHTS IN THIS PROCEEDING; THE MORTGAGEE’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AGAINST THE CITY WAS PROPERLY GRANTED (SECOND DEPT). ​

The Second Department determined the city charter provision did not provide for notice of pending tax lien sales to parties other than the owner which violated the due process rights of mortgagees:

“The constitutional guarantee of due process requires that a party who has a substantial property interest which may be affected by a tax lien sale receive notice that is ‘reasonably calculated’ to apprise it of an impending sale” … . Thus, “actual notice of a tax sale must be given to all parties with a substantial interest in the property whose names and addresses are ‘reasonably ascertainable'” … . A mortgagee has a legally protected property interest and is legally entitled to notice of a pending tax sale … .

Here, section 93 of the City Charter of the City of Middletown … does not provide for notice of pending tax lien sales to parties other than the owner, but provides only for post-sale notice 60 days prior to the divesting of all rights in the property. As such, City Charter section 93 fails to comport with due process requirements because it makes no provision for actual notice of impending tax sales to be given to mortgagees of record … . Accordingly, the Supreme Court properly denied the City’s motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against it, and, as relevant to this appeal, granted that branch of [the mortgagee’s]  motion which was for summary judgment on the complaint insofar as asserted against the City. Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC v City of Middletown, 2021 NY Slip Op 04006, Second Dept 6-23-21

Similar issue and result in Delacorte v Luyanda, 2021 NY Slip Op 04009, Second Dept 6-23-21

 

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PLAINTIFF BANK’S REPRESENTATIVE RELIED ON UNIDENTIFIED DOCUMENTS WHICH WERE NOT ATTACHED TO HER AFFIDAVIT TO DEMONSTRATE DEFENDANT’S DEFAULT IN THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION; BANK’S SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION SHOULD HAVE BEEN DENIED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the plaintiff’s representative relied on business records which were not identified or attached to demonstrate defendant’s (Huertas’s) default in this foreclosure action. Therefore the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment should not have been granted:

… [T]he plaintiff relied upon the affidavit of Crystal Dunbar, a foreclosure specialist of … the mortgage loan servicer for the plaintiff’s assignee … to show that Huertas had defaulted under the terms of the subject note by failing to make required monthly payments. In her affidavit, Dunbar stated that Huertas “defaulted under their note for $227,136.00 owing to the Plaintiff . . . by having failed to make monthly payments on September 01, 2009 to date.” Dunbar did not state that she had personal knowledge of the default, but averred that she had “personal knowledge of the [p]laintiff’s records and record making practices, and how such records [were] made, used and kept.” Dunbar’s affidavit was sufficient to provide a foundation for the admission, under the business records exception to the rule against hearsay (see CPLR 4518[a]), of records related to the subject mortgage … . However, Dunbar’s purported knowledge of Huertas’s default was based upon her review of unidentified business records, which she failed to attach to her affidavit. Accordingly, her assertions regarding Huertas’s default, without the business records upon which she relied in making those assertions, constituted inadmissible hearsay … . Bank of Am., N.A. v Huertas, 2021 NY Slip Op 04005, First Dept 6-23-21

 

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THE DESIGNATING PETITIONS INCLUDED THE NAMES OF CANDIDATES WHO DID NOT AGREE TO BE LISTED; THE PETITIONS WERE THEREFORE PROPERLY INVALIDATED ON THE GROUND OF FRAUD (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department determined Supreme Court properly invalidated appellants’ designating petitions because they included the names of candidates who did not consent to be listed on the petitions:

… [A] designating petition will be invalidated upon a showing that the entire petition is permeated with fraud … . Here, the petitioners demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that the designating petitions of the appellants … were permeated with fraud, as it is undisputed that those designating petitions included the names of several candidates who never affirmatively agreed to be listed thereon, and the hearing evidence amply supported the Supreme Court’s determination that their inclusion was intentional and designed to mislead others. Thus, these designating petitions were properly invalidated on the ground of fraud … . Matter of Ariola v Maio, 2021 NY Slip Op 03988, Second Dept 6-17-21

 

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ALTHOUGH PLAINTIFF SOUGHT DISSOLUTION OF THE PARTNERSHIP AND COULD NOT COMPEL PARTITION IF THE PARTNERSHIP EXISTS, PLAINTIFF SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO AMEND THE COMPLAINT TO ADD A CAUSE OF ACTION FOR PARTITION IN THE ALTERNATIVE (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing (modifying) Supreme Court, determine plaintiff should have been allowed to amend the complaint to allege a cause of action for partition in this partnership dispute. Although plaintiff sought dissolution of the partnership, and could not compel partition if the partnership exists, partition would be available if the existence of the partnership is not proven:

“Absent prejudice or surprise resulting from the delay in making the motion, leave to amend should be granted unless the proposed amendment is patently without merit or palpably improper” … . Here, the plaintiff has alleged the existence of a general partnership and has sought, inter alia, to dissolve it, while the defendant has consistently denied the existence of such partnership. If the plaintiff prevails in establishing the existence of the partnership, then he cannot compel partition of the partnership property … . However, since the existence of the partnership is disputed by the defendant, we see no reason why the plaintiff should not be permitted to plead, in the alternative (see CPLR 3014, 3017[a]), a cause of action to compel partition of the jointly held properties in the event no partnership is found to exist … . Ratto v Oliva, 2021 NY Slip Op 03860, Second Dept 6-16-21

 

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DEFENDANT WAS ENTITLED TO A DOWNWARD DEPARTURE (LEVEL TWO TO ONE) IN THIS CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CASE (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendant’s motion for a downward departure in this child pornography case should have been granted:

At a hearing pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration Act (Correction Law art 6-C) to determine the defendant’s risk level, defense counsel requested that, despite the defendant’s score on the risk assessment instrument, which placed him at the lower end of the presumptive level two risk category, the Supreme Court should exercise its discretion to grant a downward departure and designate the defendant a level one sex offender … . …

Under the circumstances of this case—including, among other things, the small number of images found on the defendant’s cell phone and the absence of any evidence of child pornography on his laptop, the brief period of time during which the defendant is alleged to have collected child pornography, the defendant’s lack of criminal history, and a psychosexual evaluation report finding that the defendant’s risk of reoffense was low—we find that a preponderance of the evidence established that the risk assessment instrument overassessed the defendant’s risk of reoffense, and that his request for a downward departure should be granted in the exercise of discretion … . People v Sestito, 2021 NY Slip Op 03859, Second Dept 6-15-21

 

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