Plaintiff, an employee of our commercial tenant, sustained severe injuries,
including fractures and tears to his left ankle, left knee and left shoulder,
and underwent four surgeries, as the result of a slip and fall on fish
skin on the sidewalk of our client’s market. Plaintiff sued the
sanitation company hired by our client and the landlord who, in turn,
commenced a third-party action against our client for indemnification
pursuant to our client’s lease. The lease required our client to
indemnify the landlord for injuries arising out of any acts or omissions
of our client or its agents. The Bronx Supreme Court denied our motion
summary judgment, finding that our client caused the condition. We appealed
this decision. In reversing the Bronx Court decision and dismissing the
third-party complaint against our client, the Appellate Division, First
Department, agreed there was no evidence that our client caused the fish
skin to be on the sidewalk. The evidence instead suggested the fish skin
fell to the sidewalk during the co-defendant’s garbage pick-up just
moments before plaintiff’s accident. Another successful result in
a high exposure slip and fall case!
(Appellate Division, First Department, November 2021)