Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani South Jersey Partner Michael V. Slivjak and Associate John M. Russell obtained summary judgment on all claims against the firm’s clients, the owners and residents of a dwelling in Bergenfield, New Jersey.
The plaintiff allegedly tripped and fell on the public sidewalk in front of the dwelling, identifying an area of broken concrete. In discovery, it was confirmed that the local fire department had created the sidewalk condition while responding to a neighbor’s house fire approximately one year earlier. Notably, the firm’s clients had reported the condition and sought repairs at the expense of the municipality, prior to the plaintiff’s accident.
Slivjak and Russell filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the firm’s clients simply had no duty to repair the concrete, regardless of actual or constructive notice of the condition, and regardless of the alleged degree of hazardousness. Despite the other parties’ arguments that additional discovery into the eventual repairs was warranted, the court agreed with the defendant, re-affirming New Jersey’s well-established doctrine of residential sidewalk immunity and dismissing all claims against the firm’s clients with prejudice.