In October, 2009, the Supreme Court, Bronx County, granted MSSSV’s motion seeking summary judgment on behalf of their client, a building owner, in a personal injury action by a firefighter. The fireman had suffered career ending injures while extinguishing a fire within the insured’s building. The lawsuit alleged common law negligence, as well as liability premised upon GML 205-a, which entitles firefighters and police officers to recover for injuries sustained within the “line of duty” if they are “proximately caused” by an identified and proven statutory violation.
In support of summary judgment, we established that the plaintiff failed to prove that the numerous Building and Administrative Code violations, as well as Multiple Dwelling Law violations, were the “proximate cause” of his accident, which occurred when he fell through a hole in the floor of the tenant’s fried chicken restaurant. The motion was also premised upon the fact that plaintiff, as well as two non-party firefighter witnesses, failed to establish that the restaurant floor contained holes and, if proven, the owner had notice of the condition before the fire. Finally, we persuaded the Court that plaintiffs’ expert affidavit, submitted to establish that violations existed before the fire and were the proximate cause of the firefighter’s injuries, was purely speculative since the expert did not inspect the building and relied upon the same discovery before the Court to reach his cursory conclusions.