On August 11, 2017, Alexandra Alvarez won a motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s complaint in Williams v. Jonah, Index No. 202382/2017 (Supreme Court, Bronx County). The plaintiffs alleged that they were injured in a motor vehicle accident on January 10, 2014 caused by the negligence of the defendants. The plaintiffs filed a summons on January 10, 2017 to commence the action. Ms. Alvarez argued that the certified police report reflects that the accident occurred on January 9, 2014, and that the plaintiff filed the summons three years and one day after the accident occurred, and that the claim was barred by the statute of limitations. The Court granted the motion and dismissed the case.
Florina Altshiler authored an article for the Summer 2017 edition of DRI’s publication, In-House Defense Quarterly, entitled Memory, Perception and Confirmation Bias - Unintentionally False Eyewitness Testimony. The article addresses issues with the perception of eye witnesses and how witnesses sometimes fill in gaps in their testimony with their own expectations or what they hear from others, including suggestive questioning.
On July 7, 2017, Timothy Welch prevailed on appeal in the Appellate Division, Fourth Department in Estate of Morris v. Ontario County, 2017 NY Slip Op 05534 (4th Dep’t 2017). The plaintiffs, who were the administrators of the decedent’s estate, commenced a negligence action against various parties following a motor vehicle accident. The decedent was operating a motor vehicle that travelled off the road, struck a guide rail system, and caused the vehicle to launch in the air and land in a creek below. The decedent died shortly thereafter. Mr. Welch successfully obtained summary judgment at the trial court level by arguing that our client, who installed the guide rail, owed no duty to the
