NY found mostly liable for park injury

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A New York State Court of Claims judge has ruled that the state bears most of the responsibility for an injury suffered by a woman at a state park in the Catskill Mountains.

Claimant Loma Yehl was hurt on Nov. 28, 2021, when she stepped into a hole while walking in a grassy area at Bear Mountain State Park.

Yehl filed the claim in January 2023 alleging that the state negligently failed to properly fill the hole.

After a trial on the issue of liability on May 13, Judge Linda K. Mejias-Glover ruled that the state was 70% liable for the injury, and Yehl was 30% liable.

“Any award of damages shall be reduced by the percentage of fault attributable to the claimant,” Mejias-Glover wrote in her decision.

A damages trial will be scheduled as soon as practicable,” she wrote.

“The parties are encouraged to consider alternative dispute resolution for the ascertainment of damages,” she wrote.

On the day of the incident, Yehl was at the park on her first date with Roger Brown.

Yehl was hurt when she accidentally stepped into a square-shaped hole, about 12 inches square, and about eight to 10 inches deep.

Yehl and Brown testified that they chose to walk across the grassy area, just off a park road, rather than remain on the road, because of vehicle traffic on the road.

Yehl testified that she had previously walked on the same path during prior visits to the park and never had any difficulty.

Yehl “acknowledged that she was looking at (Brown) while walking and, as a result, did not see the hole prior to stepping into it,” according to the decision.

Park Manager Jennifer Sylvestri testified “that, although she had been in the area multiple times, she had never seen the hole prior to (Yehl’s) report.”

“She acknowledged that such a condition is one she would expect park maintenance staff to detect during routine visual inspections,” Mejias-Glover wrote.

The state’s failure to maintain the grassy shoulder of the park road “is legally significant,” she wrote.

“By permitting a foreseeable condition to persist — namely, a large hole filled with leaves in an area customarily used by pedestrians … the state failed to meet its obligation to prevent or warn against hazards that pose a danger to ordinary users,” Mejias-Glover wrote.

“A failure to inspect or maintain an area known to accommodate pedestrian traffic constitutes a breach of duty,” she wrote.

But Yehl’s “failure to exercise reasonable care for her own safety proportionally reduces any recovery,” according to the decision.

“The evidence demonstrates that (Yehl) was not looking at the surface where she was walking, despite her awareness that she was traversing an unpaved, grassy area adjacent to a public roadway,” Mejias-Glover wrote.

“Claimant’s failure to observe the surface she was traversing was a contributing factor to her fall. Her inattentiveness, while not the primary cause, contributed in a meaningful way to the incident and warrants an apportionment of liability,” she wrote.

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