Stratton v. City of Beacon

• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
• Writing for the Court: Before THOMPSON
• Citation: Stratton v. City of Beacon, 457 N.Y.S.2d 893, 91 A.D.2d 1018 (N.Y. App. Div. 1983)
• Decision Date: 17 January 1983
• Parties: Richard STRATTON et al., Respondents, v. The CITY OF BEACON, Appellant, et al., Defendant.

Page 893

457 N.Y.S.2d 893

91 A.D.2d 1018

Richard STRATTON et al., Respondents, v. The CITY OF BEACON, Appellant, et al., Defendant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division Second Department.

Jan. 17, 1983.

Mead, Dore & Voute, P.C., White Plains (Emanuel Thebner, White Plains, of counsel), for appellant.

Worona & Petito, Poughkeepsie (Bruce A. Petito, Poughkeepsie, of counsel), for respondents.

Before THOMPSON, J.P., and BRACKEN, RUBIN and BOYERS, JJ.

MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.

In a negligence action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., defendant City of Beacon appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Dutchess County, dated May 24, 1982, which denied its motion for summary judgment.

Order reversed, on the law, with $50 costs and disbursements, defendant City of Beacon's motion for summary judgment is granted and the complaint is dismissed as to it.

The complaint alleges that the infant plaintiff sustained personal injuries when she fell on broken glass and other debris in a parking lot owned or maintained by defendant City of Beacon and/or defendant Beacon Community Development Agency. Defendant City of Beacon interposed an answer and moved for summary judgment pursuant to CPLR 3212, on the ground the plaintiffs did not plead compliance with section 114-A of the Charter of the City of Beacon.

Section 114-A provides in part: "No civil action shall be maintained against the city for damages or injuries to persons or property sustained * * * in consequence of any street, highway, bridge, culvert, sidewalk, crosswalk, grating, opening, drain or sewer being * * * unsafe, dangerous or obstructed unless, previous to the occurrence resulting in such damages or injuries, written notice of the existence of * * * unsafe, dangerous or obstructed condition of the particular place shall have been filed in the office of the commissioner of accounts of the city" (L. 1915, ch. 547, 114-a; as amd. L. 1920, ch. 171, § 10, as amd. by Local Laws, 1944, No. 1 of City of Beacon).

We are aware that statutes such as section 114-A of the Charter of the City of Beacon are to be read strictly and that courts "should not [take] pains to write anything into" them (Doremus v. Incorporated Vil. of Lynbrook, 18 N.Y.2d 362, 365, 275 N.Y.S.2d 505, 222 N.E.2d 376). However, that rule does not require that the words used be given an artificial, forced or unnatural meaning. In our opinion section 114-A includes within its scope a municipal parking lot. In People v. County of Westchester, 282 N.Y. 224, 228, 26 N.E.2d 27, the Court of Appeals quoted with approval from Elliot on Roads and Streets ( § 3, p. 4), as follows: "If a way is one over which the public have a general right of passage, it is, in legal contemplation, a highway". As the word parking implies, a municipal parking lot is primarily a place where vehicles are left stationary and unattended. Nevertheless, it is essential to the use for which it is provided that both cars and pedestrians have passageway on and through it. The complaint does not allege...