Valentin, et al. v. Santos, Supreme Court, Bronx County, Index No. 25278/03 In a five-page Decision and Order, dated March 26, 2012, the Honorable Ben R. Barbato dismissed the Complaint of four (4) plaintiffs against the defendant driver. The Court held that the objectively documented injuries sustained by the plaintiffs did not meet the “serious…

Nova v. Fontanez, ___ A.D.3d ____ (1st Dep’t December 5, 2013) Plaintiff failed to demonstrate his alleged “significant limitation of use” or “permanent consequential limitation of use” in an action arising out of a motor vehicle accident, according to the unanimous panel. With reversal of the lower court’s decision, the complaint against the defendant is…

Lopez, et al. v. Reynoso, et al, Supreme Court, Bronx County, Index No. 310669/2008 Honorable Justice Wilma Guzman granted summary judgment against all three plaintiffs in a Bronx auto case with a 4-page decision dated July 17, 2012. Defendant was the operator of the vehicle which had been involved in a collision with plaintiffs’ vehicle.…

Rivera v. Hayes, Index No. 20830/10 (Sup.Ct. Bronx Cty. December 9, 2013) The Honorable Alexander W. Hunter granted a Bronx defendant’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed the plaintiff’s Complaint for failure to show a “serious injury” as required under Insurance Law, Section 5102(d). Plaintiff claimed injuries relating to a multi-car accident, and served a…

Moreau v. Josaphat, N.Y. Law Journal, December 3, 2013 (Sup.Ct. Kings Cty. 2013) The Graves Amendment applies to “car sharing services”, a New York Court has held. This means that car sharing services, such as Zipcar, are entitled to the same protections afforded to rental car companies under that federal statute. A two-car accident led…

Zare v. City of New York, Supreme Court, Bronx County Index No. 308994/2009, August 31, 2012 A Bronx court granted summary judgment for the City of New York on Labor Law section 240(1) and 241(6) claims brought by a circus employee. The plaintiff allegedly fell approximately eighteen (18) inches into an uncovered opening, located on…

Abrams Gorelick is pleased to announce that Partners Michael E. Gorelick, Glenn A. Jacobson and Steven DiSiervi have been named in the 2012 New York Metro issue of Super Lawyers, published by Thomson Reuters. Gorelick and Jacobson were selected as “Super Lawyers”, in the practice areas of Insurance Coverage and Personal Injury Defense: General, respectively.…

Augustin Paez v. 1610 Saint Nicholas Avenue, L.P. et al., 2014 NY Slip Op 421 (1st Dep’t 2014) A decision previously reported in these pages was unanimously affirmed, on alternative grounds, resulting in a dismissal of contractual indemnification claims against the owner of a restaurant property where the plaintiff was injured. (See Newswire April 19,…

Posimato v. Ortega, Index 1844/04 (Sup. Ct. Bronx Cty. 2013) A unanimous Bronx jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant finding that he was not negligent in causing the subject accident. In addition, the jury also found that the plaintiff did not sustain a ‘serious injury’ as defined by New York State Law.…

Eckhoff v. Wal-Mart Assocs, Inc., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 181156 (S.D.N.Y. 2013) The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a Third-Party Complaint by a Wal-Mart subsidiary finding that the indemnification agreement at issue did not apply. U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel dismissed the Third-Party Complaint in an Opinion and…