OUTCOME: Dismissed on motion for summary judgment.
Inmate fell forward due to a seizure during an escort, sustaining injury to her face. The plaintiff alleged she was unsafely restrained and not given her medication. However, the defendant followed t...he established procedures regarding inmate escorts and the plaintiff failed to tell defendant of her epilepsy. The plaintiff failed to raise a question of fact. Please note the decision states that Heather L. Pollock appeared for oral argument - this is an error, she did not appear.
Slip and fall accident
Robin Konitz v. Grasskeeper's Landscaping, Inc.
Jan 09, 2018
OUTCOME: Dismissed on motion for summary judgment
The defendant was a snow and ice removal company. They contracted for the removal of snow and ice with the plaintiff’s employer. Heather L. Pollock filed a motion for summary judgment seeking dismissa...l of the action on behalf of the defendant based upon the fact that the defendant did not owe a duty to the plaintiff. The plaintiff unsuccessfully argued that she was a party to the contract between her employer and the defendant snow removal company. However, applying the exceptions identified in the Espinal case, the Court granted defendant’s motion. Where the snow removal contract only covered the time period of November 15 – April 30, did not provide guidelines as to when to spot salt or spot sand and had no provision for snow between two to four inches the Court found the contract was not so comprehensive so that it entirely displaced the owner’s obligation, and therefore the defendant did not owe a duty to the plaintiff. The Court also found that a passive failure to salt or sand by the defendant did not constitute a “launching of an instrument of harm” and that the plaintiff was not a party to the snow removal contract. Accordingly, the Court granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed the action.
Car accident
New York State Thurway Authority v. ATS Transport, Inc., Arthur Markiewicz & Oleksandre Ivanov
Nov 28, 2017
OUTCOME: Dismissed on motion to dismiss.
Tractor trailer hit a guide rail. The action was commenced through the service of a summons without a Complaint. A demand for the Complaint was subsequently made on behalf of the defendant. When stil...l no Complaint was served, a motion to dismiss for failure to timely serve a Complaint was filed. Plaintiff requested that if the Court was going to dismiss the Complaint, that the dismissal be made without prejudice. However, in the Decision and Order, the Judge found that the plaintiff failed to provide a certificate of merit and saw “no legal basis for such remedy, which would render CPLR 3012(b) meaningless, and the relief granted herein a nullity” and explicitly stated the dismissal would not be without prejudice. The plaintiff never moved to appeal or reargue that Decision and Order. After the dismissal of the action, the plaintiff refiled an identical Summons with a Complaint for the same claims. Attorney Heather L. Pollock made a motion to dismiss on behalf of the defendant based on res judicata. The Court agreed, and found that the subsequent refiled action was barred pursuant to res judicata pursuant under CPLR 3211(a)(5) and dismissed the action.
Slip and fall accident
Carol Pemberton v. St. Paul's Episcopal Church
N/A
OUTCOME: Dismissed on motion for summary judgment
Plaintiff slipped and fell on a sidewalk. Plaintiff was unable to determine the cause of her fall and did not identify any defects to the sidewalk at her 50-h hearing or deposition. At the conclusion... of the deposition plaintiff's attorney requested a recess. Plaintiff's attorney then asked her questions and she spontaneously remembered exactly where she fell and that she fell because the sidewalk was uneven. The Court found that she could not identify the cause of her fall and the testimony identifying the fall was self serving.
