Lotenberg v Long Is. R.R.
2006 NYSlipOp 08098
November 8, 2006
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, January 17, 2007


Gary Lotenberg, Appellant, et al., Plaintiff,
v
Long Island Railroad, Respondent.

[*1]

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., the plaintiff Gary Lotenberg appeals from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Brandveen, J.), dated April 4, 2005, as granted that branch of the defendant's motion which was for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted by him.

Ordered that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs, and that branch of the defendant's motion which was for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted by the appellant is denied.

A property owner will not be held liable for accidents occurring as a result of the accumulation of snow or ice on its premises until an adequate period of time has passed following the cessation of the storm to allow the owner an opportunity to ameliorate the hazardous condition caused by the storm (see Fahey v Serota, 23 AD3d 335 [2005]; Dowden v Long Is. R.R., 305 AD2d 631 [2003]). However, here, in light of the conflict in the testimony of the parties and the climatological data, issues of fact exist as to when the snow fall ceased and whether the defendant had an adequate opportunity to ameliorate the hazardous condition, if any, caused by the snow fall. Accordingly, that branch of the defendant's motion which was for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted by the appellant should have been denied. Adams, J.P., Skelos, Fisher and Covello, JJ., concur.


NYPTI Decisions © 2026 is a project of New York Prosecutors Training Institute (NYPTI) made possible by leveraging the work we've done providing online research and tools to prosecutors.

NYPTI would like to thank New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York State Senate's Open Legislation Project, New York State Unified Court System, New York State Law Reporting Bureau and Free Law Project for their invaluable assistance making this project possible.

Install the free RECAP extensions to help contribute to this archive. See https://free.law/recap/ for more information.