NY State Can Be Held Liable For Defective Sidewalk, Court Holds

As noted in "How to Prove a Trip and Fall Case Against New York City," the central, critical factor in determining whether New York City can be held liable for a plaintiff's injuries resulting from a slip or trip and fall over a defective portion of sidewalk (assuming that the municipality is the owner of the abutting property) is whether the City had actual written notice of the defect beforehand.

This rule has been codified as NYC Administrative Code 7-210.

But what if the abutting property owner is New York State?

In an opinion dated December 20 in Locario v. State of New York, one of New York's appellate courts answered this question in the affirmative, holding that Section 7-210 has the force of a Local Law which the State assumed liability for under § 8 of the Court of Claims Act ("The state hereby waives its immunity from liability and action and hereby assumes liability and consents to have same determined in accordance with the same rules of law as applied to actions in the supreme court against individuals or corporations, provided the claimant complies with the limitations of this article").