The Second Department ordered a new motor-vehicle liability trial, holding that a jury could find fault and that crash-damage photographs were probative of what drivers should have seen.
The Second Department reinstated claims against Uber entities because they failed to eliminate factual disputes over whether a driver was an employee or independent contractor.
The Second Department imposed Labor Law § 240(1) liability where unsecured concrete blocks fell from a scaffold onto a mason working below.
The Second Department restored Labor Law §§ 200 and 240(1) claims because defendants’ late cross-motion did not address nearly identical issues raised by a timely motion.
The Second Department ordered a conditional adverse-inference instruction where JetBlue’s surveillance footage may have been overwritten after it received a preservation demand.
The Second Department held that a sewer contractor did not launch an instrument of harm under Espinal when its repair work did not create or worsen a restaurant’s fatal carbon-monoxide condition.
In a first-impression ruling, the Second Department held that the federal Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act barred arbitration of a negligence claim against a sorority.
The Second Department held that lost surveillance footage justified a spoliation sanction, but reduced total liability preclusion to an adverse-inference instruction.
The Second Department held that a three-foot fall from a skid-steer step was outside Labor Law § 240(1), while negligence and an illumination-based § 241(6) theory survived.
The Second Department held that Allstate owed no defense or indemnity to a driver who was neither the deceased insured’s estate representative nor an authorized temporary custodian.
A divided Second Department restored a criminally negligent homicide count based on an 81-mph fatal crash in a 30-mph residential zone.
The Second Department reinstated Labor Law § 200 and negligence claims because the construction manager failed to negate supervisory control or constructive notice of a defective delivery gate.
The Second Department held that a homeowner waiver lacked unmistakable negligence language and could not override the Scaffold Law’s nondelegable safety duty.
The Second Department reinstated strict products-liability claims because Honda did not eliminate factual disputes about an airbag system’s design, manufacture, and warnings.
The Second Department reinstated vicarious-liability claims against Uber entities because driver-control issues remained disputed, while finding the driver and vehicle owners liable for the rear-end crash.
The Second Department held that the Scaffold Law’s homeowner exemption covered ladder work on a barn that functioned as an extension of a residence and served a substantially residential purpose.
Second Department reverses summary judgment for Toll Brothers developer: general contractor failed to eliminate triable issues of fact as to whether it had supervisory authority over concrete delivery operations — that question must go to trial.
Second Department partially reverses in Child Victims Act case: foster care agency’s negligence and Social Services Law § 413 reporting claims survive summary judgment, but punitive damages are dismissed and school district escapes liability for acts of an agency-employed abuser.
Second Department reverses and dismisses Adult Survivors Act claim against production LLC, holding that a sexual assault in the alleged tortfeasor’s private apartment fell outside the scope of employment and could not support respondeat superior liability against the company.
Second Department affirms denial of summary judgment for Archdiocese of New York and Church of St. Bernard in a CVA case alleging 1960s abuse: defendants failed to eliminate triable issues of fact as to constructive notice of the abuser’s propensity.
Second Department reverses § 240(1) summary judgment where worker struck by unknown object from upper scaffold: plaintiff must identify the object and show it was being hoisted or required securing.
Second Department affirms Labor Law § 240(1) liability where worker was directed to climb a seven-foot stack of doors without a ladder, and upholds CPLR 3126 preclusion of an undisclosed defense witness.
The Appellate Division, Second Department partially reverses summary judgment in favor of Good Samaritan Hospital in a spinal surgery malpractice action, holding that the hospital may be vicariously liable for post-discharge outpatient radiology services ordered by the treating surgeon through the hospital—extending the accrual date for the hospital’s limitations defense.
The Appellate Division, Second Department holds that General Obligations Law § 5-335 bars an employer’s disability insurer from recovering, through subrogation, short-term disability benefits paid to an injured worker who settles a personal injury action—even though Workers’ Compensation Law § 227 authorizes such liens.