The Third Department held that a waste facility owner who loaded trailers before a subcontractor’s driver arrived owed that driver a duty of care, confirmed the subcontractor breached its insurance obligation by naming the wrong entity as additional insured, and awarded conditional contractual indemnification.
The Appellate Division, Third Department affirmed denial of dismissal in a PFOA/PFAS water contamination suit by a small upstate town, finding its damages claims were not barred by double recovery despite prior Taconic settlements, and that the primary jurisdiction doctrine did not require deference to DEC.
The Appellate Division, Third Department, affirms denial of EDTPA COVID-19 immunity to a surgeon who clipped a patient’s bile duct during a laparoscopic cholecystectomy in April 2020, holding that the surgeon’s own testimony that his technique was unchanged by the pandemic forecloses the immunity defense—general hospital disruptions do not trigger EDTPA protection for standard surgical errors.