Lopez vs. J&S Medical Supplies

Kings County Supreme Court granted motion for summary judgment.

The plaintiff alleged that on August 13, 2008, she re-fractured her left ankle when she fell from a wheelchair leased to her by the insured, when one of its wheels fell off.   The Court determined that the plaintiff simply had no evidence that the defendant created or had actual or constructive notice of a dangerous wheelchair condition. Further, plaintiff’s claim of spoliation of evidence regarding the disappearance of the wheelchair failed because the plaintiff did not notify the defendant of the suit until four months after the accident.

Fernandez vs. GW Third Avenue, LLC vs. A&B Contracting Services, Inc.

Bronx County Supreme Court granted motion for summary judgment of defective condition.

The plaintiff alleged that on April 3, 2004, he slipped or tripped and fell while wheeling a filing cabinet on a hand truck, up a ramp at the defendants’/third-party plaintiffs' premises. The hand truck tipped and the filing cabinet fell on top of the plaintiff. It is uncertain whether the hand truck hit a depression in the ramp, plaintiff's foot went into the depression, or plaintiff's foot struck a bump, to cause the accident. Mr. Fernandez sustained a compression fracture of L1 requiring fusion surgery and subsequently hardware removal surgery.

The Court determined that there was no evidence of our client, the third-party defendant contractor’s negligence. Since there was a lack of negligence on part of the third-party defendant contractor, the claim against the contractor for contribution was dismissed.

Rugova v. Davis

The First Department, Appellate Division, issued an order reversing the Supreme Court’s denial of our client’s motion for summary judgment.

This wrongful death case arose from a two vehicle motor vehicle accident on April 20, 2008 on the Bronx River Parkway which resulted in the death of the plaintiff’s decedent.   I argued our client’s appeal before the First Department, Appellate Division. The Court held the defendant demonstrated his prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by showing that his car was struck in the rear by plaintiff’s decedent’s car, and in response, plaintiff failed to provide a nonnegligent explanation, in evidentiary form, for the collision. The Court also held that plaintiff could not avail herself of the Noseworthy doctrine, so as not to be held to as high a degree of proof, since plaintiff failed to make a showing of facts from which negligence can be inferred.