October 2013

In an action in Supreme Court, Nassau County involving a trip and fall over a pallet of merchandise in defendant’s big box store, Justice Robert A. Bruno granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment.  The Court held that the defendant established its prima facie burden of showing that the pallet of wood upon which plaintiff claims to have fallen was readily observable by the reasonable use of one’s senses and was not inherently dangerous.  Further, the Court found plaintiff’s argument that the wooden pallet created a dangerous condition because it was left in an aisle to have been unavailing. 

----

Thomas B. Hayn, representing an automobile insurance carrier, successfully opposed the petition to stay uninsured motorists arbitration arising out of an accident in New York State, arguing that Florida law governed the cancellation of a policy of insurance written in Florida to an individual claiming to reside in Florida.  Following a hearing, the court ruled that our client’s cancellation of the policy on the basis of non-payment of premiums was effective under applicable Florida law and denied the petition.