Opinion
2011-10-25
Maria Isabel LOPEZ, Plaintiff,v.GUEI SHUN SHIAU, et al., Defendants.Guei Shun Shiau, Third–Party Plaintiff–Appellant,v.Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant, Inc., etc., Third–Party Defendant–Respondent.
D'Amato & Lynch, LLP, New York (Bill V. Kakoullis of counsel), for appellant.Faust Goetz Schenker & Blee LLP, New York (Lisa De Lindsay of counsel), for respondent.
D'Amato & Lynch, LLP, New York (Bill V. Kakoullis of counsel), for appellant.Faust Goetz Schenker & Blee LLP, New York (Lisa De Lindsay of counsel), for respondent.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Emily Jane Goodman, J.), entered October 8, 2010, which, in this action for personal injuries sustained by plaintiff when she allegedly slipped and fell on an uneven sidewalk abutting property owned by defendant- third-party plaintiff Guei Shun Shiau and leased to defendant- third-party defendant Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant, Inc. d/b/a Queen of Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant, to the extent appealed from, denied Shiau's motion for summary judgment on his cross claim for contractual indemnity against Sheba, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Issues of fact exist as to whether the lease requires Sheba to indemnify Shiau for the type of injury or damages at issue here. This Court will not read into the contract an indemnity obligation that is not “unmistakably” present in the lease agreement ( Great N. Ins. Co. v. Interior Constr. Corp., 7 N.Y.3d 412, 417, 823 N.Y.S.2d 765, 857 N.E.2d 60 [2006] ). Here, the lease's indemnification and insurance provisions are ambiguous, and thus denial of summary judgment was appropriate. We reject Shiau's contention that the facts of this case are similar to those of Hogeland v. Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Co., 42 N.Y.2d 153, 397 N.Y.S.2d 602, 366 N.E.2d 263 [1977].
We have considered Shiau's remaining contentions and find them unavailing.