RUSSO & TONER, LLP

Senior Partner, Stephen B. Toner, together with Buffalo Partner, Florina Altshiler, win another swift medical malpractice defense verdict in Queens County, in the case of: Hannah Taboada, as Executrix of the Estate of James Shiffner, Deceased and Cathleen Ann Carter v. Buffalo General Medical Center, Kaleida Health - Gates Vascular Institute, Kaleida Health, Ann B. Curtis, M.D., Hiroko Beck, M.D. and Nestor B. Nestor, M.D. (Index No.: 715031/16). Our offices represented defendant-cardiologist, Anne B. Curtis, M.D., and electrophysiologist, Hiroko Beck, M.D., in a wrongful death, medical malpractice claim, asserted by the Estate of a 62 year old man who suffered a stroke and died. The decend

In Couverthier v. Prestige Properties et al., Bronx County Index No: 300478/14 the plaintiff slipped and fell due to insufficient lighting and ice in a shopping center parking lot. Our client last removed snow and ice from the premises one week prior to plaintiff’s accident. Pursuant to the snow removal contract the contractor had no duty to return to the property or to further inspect the parking lot after their work was completed and approved by the management company. The Court held that our client owed no duty of care to the plaintiff and found that none of the Espinal exceptions applied. The Court noted that the mere supposition that the snow removal contractor’s snow clearing activi

In Delgado v. Mee Ying Mariscal, Queens County Index No: 705490/13 the plaintiff passed away in 2015. The action was subsequently marked stayed. An administrator to plaintiff’s estate was never appointed and the case remained stayed indefinitely. Mr. Weiner then moved to dismiss for plaintiff’s failure to timely substitute an estate representative. The Court granted Mr. Weiner’s motion and dismissed plaintiff’s case. In doing so the Court stated that more than four years have elapsed since the death of the plaintiff and no reasonable excuse has been provided for the failure to timely substitute an estate representative for the decedent.

In Caesar v. The City of New York and Hakimi Hardware, New York County Index Number 160620/2016 the plaintiff claimed that she fell in a hole on the sidewalk in front of our client’s hardware store. However, plaintiff’s deposition testimony and the photographs plaintiff marked at her deposition established that she stepped into a hole on the curbstone and not the sidewalk. We argued that pursuant to Administrative Code §7-210 curbstones remain the responsibility of the City of New York and not the responsibility of the abutting property owner. Moreover, we argued that Hakimi is not the abutting property owner but a tenant pursuant to a lease. Additionally, we argued there was no evidence t

In Mandel v. 131 Acres Road, LLC, Orange County Index No: EF005849/16 we moved to renew and reargue a prior decision that granted spoliation sanctions against all three defendants in a case where the plaintiff fell on snow and ice in the parking lot of a deli. In this case we represented the snow removal contractor. Plaintiff initially moved to impose spoliation sanctions against the co-defendant deli for the loss of video surveillance and requested no relief against our client. The Court granted plaintiff’s motion and decided that the jury would be told that there was surveillance footage of the scene at and around the time of the accident that was no longer available through not fault of t

In Stakey v. Town of Riverhead et al. Suffolk County Index No: 15-00089 the plaintiff tripped over plywood boards covering a sidewalk that was being repaired as part of larger renovation of a shopping center. Mr. Weiner moved for summary judgment on behalf of the project manager and argued that the project manager did not owe a duty to the plaintiff, did not create the condition that allegedly caused the plaintiff’s accident and that plaintiff cannot establish that any actions by the project manager were the proximate cause of her injuries. The Court in an 8-page decision held that our client did not perform any work on the subject sidewalk and was not responsible for the safety or means and