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Tyschak v. Incorporated Village of Westbury

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
May 10, 1993
193 A.D.2d 670 (N.Y. App. Div. 1993)

Opinion

May 10, 1993

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Collins, J.).


Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.

On the morning of October 24, 1987, the plaintiff Lucy Tyschak tripped and fell over a raised portion of sidewalk located in front of 57 Bedford Avenue in the Incorporated Village of Westbury. Mrs. Tyschak sustained a fractured wrist as a result of her fall, and she and her husband subsequently commenced this action against the defendant Village. The Village thereafter moved for summary judgment, contending that it had not received prior written notice of the allegedly defective condition of the sidewalk (see, Incorporated Vil. of Westbury Code, § 55-1; see also, Village Law § 6-628). The plaintiffs did not dispute that the Village had received no written notice of the alleged defect, but instead contended, in an affirmation by their attorney, that written notice was not required because the Village's attempts to repair the sidewalk had created the defective condition which caused the injured plaintiff's fall. The Supreme Court granted the Village's motion for summary judgment, and the plaintiffs now appeal.

The Supreme Court properly awarded summary judgment to the defendant Village. Pursuant to Village Law § 6-628 and the applicable local ordinance, prior written notice is a condition precedent to maintaining an action against the Village arising from a sidewalk defect (see, Giganti v Town of Hempstead, 186 A.D.2d 627). While "no prior [written] notice of defect is necessary in the face of affirmative acts of negligence" (Feiner v Incorporated Vil. of Farmingdale, 168 A.D.2d 418; see also, Ferris v County of Suffolk, 174 A.D.2d 70, 72; Zinno v City of New York, 160 A.D.2d 795), the plaintiffs' unsubstantiated allegation that the Village created the defective sidewalk condition, made in the affirmation of their attorney, who had no personal knowledge of the facts, was insufficient to defeat the Village's motion (see, Dabbs v City of Peeksville, 178 A.D.2d 577; West v Village of Mamaroneck, 172 A.D.2d 827; Kaempf v Town of Hempstead, 170 A.D.2d 652). In this regard, we note that while the plaintiffs produced invoices indicating that repair work had been performed to the sidewalk in front of 75 Bedford Avenue and 64 Bedford Avenue, the plaintiffs submitted no evidence to dispute the Village's claim that repair work had not been performed to the sidewalk abutting 57 Bedford Avenue, where the injured plaintiff's fall occurred. Thompson, J.P., Eiber, Ritter and Joy, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Tyschak v. Incorporated Village of Westbury

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
May 10, 1993
193 A.D.2d 670 (N.Y. App. Div. 1993)
Case details for

Tyschak v. Incorporated Village of Westbury

Case Details

Full title:ROBERT TYSCHAK et al., Appellants, v. INCORPORATED VILLAGE OF WESTBURY…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: May 10, 1993

Citations

193 A.D.2d 670 (N.Y. App. Div. 1993)
597 N.Y.S.2d 474

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