100 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 21, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
THE VANISHED TAPE Q: I was riding my bicycle on a sidewalk that was next to a large condominium
complex. A month or two before, the City had excavated a portion of the
sidewalk and backfilled it with a temporary patch, cordoning off the area with
safety barrels and yellow caution tape. By the time of my accident, the safety
barrels and yellow tape had disappeared.
A: At common law, liability for injuries sustained as a result of a dangerous
condition on a public sidewalk generally is placed on the municipality – and not on
the owner of the abutting land. Nevertheless, the landowner can be liable when it
actually created the dangerous condition, made negligent repairs that caused the
condition, or created the dangerous condition through a special use of the
sidewalk.
In addition, many cities, such as New York, have a statute or ordinance
imposing liability on the abutting landowner for failing to maintain the sidewalk.
Many cities, such as New York, also have a ‘prior written notice’ law,
under which the city may not be subjected to liability for injuries caused by a
dangerous condition which comes within the ambit of the law unless the city has
received prior written notice of the alleged defect or dangerous condition, or an
exception applies. There are two recognized exceptions: where the municipality
affirmatively created the defect through an act of negligence or where a special use
resulted in a special benefit to the locality.
Your attorney is likely to argue that the City affirmatively created the
dangerous condition that caused your accident – that the City’s work on the
sidewalk immediately left it in a condition that was dangerous to pedestrians and
bicyclists.