St. Jacques v. City of New York

• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: KAYE
• Citation: St. Jacques v. City of New York, 646 N.Y.S.2d 787, 88 N.Y.2d 920 (N.Y. 1996)
• Decision Date: 06 June 1996
• Parties: , 669 N.E.2d 1109 Daniel ST. JACQUES et al., Appellants, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, Respondent. Larry J. WILTBANK et al., Appellants, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, Respondent.

Page 787

646 N.Y.S.2d 787

88 N.Y.2d 920, 669 N.E.2d 1109

Daniel ST. JACQUES et al., Appellants, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, Respondent.

Larry J. WILTBANK et al., Appellants, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, Respondent.

Court of Appeals of New York.

June 6, 1996.

Lysaght, Lysaght & Kramer, P.C., Lake Success (Joseph L. Decolator, John V. Decolator and Michael Majewski, of counsel), for appellants.

Paul A. Crotty, Corporation Counsel of New York City (Barry P. Schwartz, Leonard Koerner, Stephen J. McGrath and Mordecai Newman, of counsel), for respondent.

Sullivan & Liapakis, P.C., New York City (Michael N. Block, Marshall M. Kolba and Stephen C. Glasser, of counsel), for Uniformed Firefighters' Association and another, amici curiae.

Edward D. Peace, Corporation Counsel of City of Buffalo (Susan P. Wheatley, of counsel), for State of New York and others, amici curiae.

OPINION OF THE COURT MEMORANDUM.

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed, with costs.

In support of their General Municipal Law § 205-e causes of action against New York City, plaintiffs relied solely on section 2904 of the New York City Charter and section 19-152 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York. Those provisions, however, concern only the duty of adjacent landowners to repair defective sidewalks or flagstones and the procedures that the City may use to enforce that duty. Neither provision imposes an affirmative duty on the City to keep its sidewalks in good repair.

To the extent that the cited provisions...