Oftentimes in a trip and fall case that takes place in the street or sidewalk, the plaintiff will include the abutting property owner as a defendant. This is a sensible act on the part of plaintiffs as there are often numerous parties that could be responsible for whatever defect may have caused the accident. However, abutting landowners can escape liability for the maintenance of sidewalks, or lack thereof, despite prior sidewalk repairs.

In Foley v. The City of New York, the plaintiff claimed personal injuries after having tripped over a curbstone. She sued the City of New York, as well as the owner of the grocery store that abutted the sidewalk where she fell. She claimed that more than four years before the accident, the grocery store owner had rebuilt the sidewalk once or twice, and as such, was responsible for its upkeep.

In granting the grocery store’s motion for summary judgment, the Court opined that an abutting property owner has no duty to maintain the curb. Regarding certain testimony of the grocery store owner about past sidewalk repairs, the Court stated that it was unreasonable “to infer from the testimony on sidewalk repair that the landlord performed any repair to the curb at issue.”

Unless a property owner testifies about repairs that were made to the specific curb upon which a plaintiff trips, defendants can rest easy with the knowledge that merely owning the property does not impose a duty to maintain the street curb. In a city with as many pedestrians as New York, it’s nice to see property owners being protected where they have done nothing wrong.

Thanks to Jeremy E. Seeman for his contribution to this post. For more information, please contact Nicole Y. Brown at .