Under the Court of Appeals’ decision in Putnam v. Stout, 38 N.Y.2d 607 (1976), an out-of-possession property owner typically is not liable for injuries sustained on its property except in certain limited circumstances. New York City law, however, imposes on property owners a non-delegable duty to remove snow and ice from the sidewalks abutting their property. The question in this case is whether an out-of-possession property owner’s non-delegable duty under city law overrides its immunity from tort liability under Putnam for injuries caused by snow or ice on the owner’s sidewalks.
In this case, plaintiff was working for a third party in a property leased from defendants, the owners of the property; plaintiff injured himself one day at work when he slipped on ice outside the property and sued the owner defendants. Defendants moved for summary judgment, in part on the ground that they were out-of-possession owners and thus could not be liable for plaintiff’s injuries. Supreme Court, New York County (Edmead, J.) denied the motion, holding that the non-delegable duty of Administrative Code of the City of New York ยง 7-210 required defendants to remove the ice and overrode defendants’ otherwise applicable immunity from tort liability for plaintiff’s injuries. The First Department reversed, relying on its earlier decisions in Bing v. 296 Third Ave. Group, L.P., 94 A.D.3d 413 (1st Dep’t 2012), and Cepeda v. KRF Realty LLC, 148 A.D.3d 512 (1st Dep’t 2017), for the proposition that an out-of-possession property owner’s Putnam immunity applies notwithstanding the property owner’s duties under city law.
The Court of Appeals granted leave.
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