- Court
- New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department
- Case
- Landberg v. City of New York
- Date
- June 3, 2026
- Slip Op. No.
- 2026 NY Slip Op 03434
Background
Plaintiff Judith Landberg allegedly was injured when she tripped and fell on a loose brick in a tree well on a sidewalk abutting property owned by defendant Whitman Owner Corp. She commenced this action against both Whitman and the City of New York. Both defendants moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. Supreme Court, Kings County (Patria Frias-Colón, J.), granted both motions. Plaintiff appealed.
Holding
The Appellate Division, Second Department, affirmed with one bill of costs. Regarding Whitman, the Court applied Administrative Code Section 7-210, which imposes a nondelegable duty on property owners to maintain abutting sidewalks. However, “section 7-210 does not impose civil liability on property owners for injuries that occur in city-owned tree wells,” as established in Vucetovic v. Epsom Downs, Inc., 10 NY3d 517, 521. The Court found that Whitman demonstrated it had no duty to maintain the city-owned tree well, did not create the dangerous condition, did not negligently repair it, and made no special use of it.
As to the City, the Court applied the prior written notice doctrine under Administrative Code Section 7-201(c), which limits municipal liability to defects the City has been specifically notified exist at a particular location. The City established it lacked prior written notice of the tree well defect, and plaintiff failed to establish any applicable exception.
Takeaways
This decision reinforces the legal distinction between sidewalks and tree wells for liability purposes. While property owners bear a nondelegable duty to maintain abutting sidewalks under Section 7-210, that duty does not extend to city-owned tree wells embedded within those sidewalks. This creates a gap in liability where injuries in tree wells may leave plaintiffs without a viable defendant: the abutting owner has no duty to maintain the tree well, and the City is protected by the prior written notice requirement.
Why It Matters
Pedestrian injury plaintiffs and their attorneys must carefully determine whether the defect that caused a fall was located on the sidewalk proper or within a tree well. This seemingly minor factual distinction determines which legal framework applies and whether any defendant can be held liable. The case also reminds practitioners that the prior written notice requirement for municipal claims requires specific written notification about the particular defect at the specific location, not general complaints about sidewalk conditions in the area.