PARTNER PETER URRETA SUCCESSFULLY OBTAINED A DECISION FROM THE APPELLATE DIVISION UPHOLDING THE LOWER COURT’S GRANT OF SUMMARY JUDGMENT WHICH DISMISSED AN ALLEGED SIDEWALK DEFECT CASE AGAINST OUR CLIENT

Partner Peter Urreta prevailed on the plaintiff's appeal of an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County, which granted our client summary judgment and dismissal of the case against it. See, Fung v. Exxon Mobil Oil Corp., 2026 NY Slip Op 05937 (2d Dept. 2026). In this case, the plaintiff claimed he tripped and fell as a result of a hazardous condition on the sidewalk abutting our client's commercial premises. The “sidewalk law,” Administrative Code § 7-210, generally makes the abutting property owner liable for a hazardous condition on the sidewalk. However, we argued that plaintiff admitted at both his 50-H hearing and at his deposition that the sole instrumentality involved in his fall was the remaining stub of a fire hydrant which had been previously knocked down and which was located on an otherwise pristine sidewalk. As such, we maintained that the remnant of the fire hydrant, which was under the control of the co-defendant City of New York, was not the responsibility of our client and was outside the scope of Administrative Code § 7-210. The appellate court agreed with our analysis and affirmed the decision of the court below, which granted us summary judgment and dismissal of the case against our client.