FINDLAW: Daily Opinion Summaries for New York Court of Appeals - 05/01/08

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, EVIDENCE, PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE

In the Matter of Pantelidis v. New York City Bd. of Standards and Appeals, No. 129 SSM 6
The order of the Appellate Division is affirmed, with costs, and the certified question is not answered upon the ground that it was unnecessary.
CIVIL PROCEDURE, CONSTRUCTION, CONTRACTS, INJURY AND TORT LAW, INSURANCE LAW, PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE, REMEDIES

Worth Constr. Co., Inc. v. Admiral Ins. Co., No. 52
In a coverage dispute brought by a general contractor arising from injuries sustained by a worker on a staircase installed by a subcontractor, a ruling finding that subcontractor’s insurer had a duty of defense and indemnity is reversed where: 1) the victim’s injury stemmed from slipping on fireproofing material applied by an entirely separate company unaffiliated with insured-subcontractor; and 2) because the general contractor admitted that its claims of negligence against subcontractor were without factual merit, it conceded that the staircase was merely the situs of the accident, and thus foreclosed arguments of any connection between the victim’s accident and the risk for which the coverage was intended.
CONTRACTS, HEALTH LAW, LANDLORD TENANT LAW, PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE, REMEDIES

P.A. Bldg. Co. v. City of New York, No. 59
In a landlord-tenant dispute involving whether asbestos abatement costs incurred by the landlord were “operating expenses” under the relevant terms of a commercial lease, judgment for landlord awarding additional rent due including amount of interest accrued is reversed and remanded where: 1) the underlying asbestos abatement costs were not “operating expenses” within the meaning of “escalation provisions” in the lease agreement; and 2) the interest amount on additional rent due should have been calculated from the date which an audit resisted by the landlord was finally commenced.
CORPORATION & ENTERPRISE LAW, GOVERNMENT LAW, PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE, PUBLIC UTILITIES

Jericho Water Dist. v. One Call Users Council, Inc., No. 69
With respect to Gen. Bus. Law section 761, which requires apportioning the costs of the “one-call notification system” among the operators of underground facilities who belong to it, but exempts “municipalities” from paying a share of the costs, the court of appeals rules that a “water district” is not a municipality for these purposes and must pay its share of the cost.
CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE, SENTENCING, TRANSPORTATION

People v. Cabrera, No. 61
In a criminal case arising from a traffic accident wherein sober defendant-driver’s excessive speeding claimed the lives of three passengers, conviction for criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault is reversed and dismissed where, although defendant’s excessive speeding behavior was negligent and unquestionably “blameworthy”, the evidence adduced at trial did not establish that circumstances surrounding the accident amounted to the kind of “morally blameworthy” component required to infer defendant’s criminal negligence.