Roth v. Town of North Hempstead

• Decision Date: 05 June 2000
• Citation: Roth v. Town of North Hempstead, 273 AD2d 215, 709 N.Y.S.2d 839 (N.Y. App. Div. 2000)
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
• Parties: BARBARA ROTH, Respondent,<BR>v.<BR>TOWN OF NORTH HEMPSTEAD, Appellant.

273 A.D.2d 215

709 N.Y.S.2d 839

BARBARA ROTH, Respondent,

v.TOWN OF NORTH HEMPSTEAD, Appellant.

Decided June 5, 2000.

O'Brien, J.P., McGinity, Luciano and Schmidt, JJ., concur.

Ordered that the order is reversed, with costs, the motion is granted, and the complaint is dismissed.

The Supreme Court erred in denying the defendant's motion for summary judgment. It is well settled that a municipality which has enacted a prior written notice statute may not be subject to liability for personal injuries from an improperly maintained sidewalk unless it either received actual written notice of the dangerous condition, its affirmative act of negligence proximately caused the accident, or where a special use confers a special benefit on the municipality (see, Amabile v City of Buffalo, 93 NY2d 471; Poirier v City of Schenectady, 85 NY2d 310). Contrary to the plaintiff's contention, the defendant's maintenance records with respect to the area of her fall did not constitute prior written notice so as to satisfy the statutory requirement (see...