NY appeals court upholds Utica trip-and-fall lawsuit

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A state appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling that denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against the city of Utica for injuries suffered in a trip and fall on a city sidewalk.

In April 2024, state Supreme Court Justice Julie G. Denton denied a motion from attorneys for the city of Utica for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.

In a recent decision, the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, Fourth Department, unanimously affirmed Denton’s ruling.

Plaintiffs Jacquelyn Goodson and Daniel Rehm filed the lawsuit seeking damages for injuries sustained by Goodson when she allegedly tripped and fell on a sidewalk in Utica in August 2018.

The city moved for summary judgment to dismiss the complaint, but Denton denied the motion and the Fourth Department affirmed.

Under Utica’s prior written notice statute, the municipality may not be liable for personal injuries caused by a defective sidewalk “unless it has received prior written notice of the defect, or an exception to the written notice requirement applies,” the Fourth Department wrote.

The city had the initial burden of establishing that no prior written notice of the defect was given to the commissioner of public works, “and we conclude that the city failed to meet that burden,” the court ruled.

The city submitted an affidavit of a receptionist in the office of the Commissioner of the Department of Public Works (DPW), who stated that she searched the DPW files and determined that the DPW did not receive any prior notice of the condition of the sidewalk.

The city also submitted the deposition of the commissioner, who testified that, if any written notice was sent to him, it would “sit on (his) desk.” He said “the DPW did not generate any computer records and had no other filing system for such documents,” according to the decision.

If the DPW caseload permitted it, a staff member would look into the issue identified in a complaint, he said.

If a staff member looked into an issue, the DPW might not keep the written complaint that prompted the investigation initially.  The document may instead be sent to another department.

Regarding Jacquelyn Goodson’s alleged fall, the commissioner testified that he checked his desk after receiving the notice of claim and did not find any written notice regarding the condition of the sidewalk.

But his testimony raised an issue of fact as to whether the written notice had been given to him, but had not been saved with the DPW records of complaints on his desk, the Fourth Department wrote.

“The city thus failed to meet its initial burden of establishing that the Commissioner did not receive prior written notice of the alleged defect,” the court ruled.

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