We are pleased to report that Freehill partners Daniel Fitzgerald and Ryan Byrnes and associate Jason Kramer successfully obtained summary judgment of a personal injury matter in the Supreme Court of New York, New York County. In the case of Shelly Moench-Kelly and Michael Kelly v. Circle Line – Sightseeing Yachts, Inc., the plaintiff fell while stepping from the gangway onto the deck of the defendant’s vessel. Plaintiffs alleged that the fall was proximately caused by the defendant’s negligence. At the close of discovery, we moved for summary judgment on the grounds that the defendant fulfilled its duty of reasonable care owed to the plaintiff under the circumstances, that no defective condition existed and because any purported danger posed by the conditions alleged by the plaintiff to have caused her fall were open and obvious.
In a decision issued by the Honorable Paul A. Goetz, the Court found that the defendant took reasonable case under the circumstances in the manner that it secured the gangway and that there was no evidence in the record to support the plaintiffs’ contention that the gangway was in a defective condition. The Court agreed that the shipowner defendant owed no duty to warn the plaintiff against any alleged dangerous conditions that were open and obvious to her. Moreover, the Court cited deposition testimony elicited from the plaintiff where she confirmed that any warning she claims she should have received from the defendant’s crew would not have provided her warning against any condition that she was not already aware of. The Court thus found no causation between the defendant’s alleged failure to warn and the plaintiff’s fall. Accordingly, the Court granted summary judgment in our client’s favor and dismissed the plaintiffs’ Complaint. A copy of Judge Goetz’s decision can be viewed here.