Burgos v. Aqueduct Realty Corp.

2 Analyses of this case by attorneys

  1. Could Commercial Landlords be Liable for Exposure to COVID-19 Under New York Law?

    Seyfarth Shaw LLPEddy SalcedoMarch 25, 2020

    For example, in a situation where a residential tenant invites guests over, and one of those guests causes injury to someone else, the landlord will typically be liable only if the injury was foreseeable (e.g., because the landlord was aware that the guest might cause the injury), and landlord’s actions (e.g., letting the guest into the building) were a proximate cause of the injury. E.g., 92 N.Y.2d 544, 548 (1998); 136 A.D.2d at 125-26. In the context of COVID-19, the landlord would likely have to know or have reason to believe that the guest had the virus, and yet nonetheless permit the guest into the building, in order to potentially be held liable.

  2. Heedless Heeding Presumptions – How New York Law Became a Morass

    Reed Smith LLPJames BeckOctober 9, 2015

    The black letter law, in New York as in most places, is that “[i]n order to prevail at trial in a negligence case, a plaintiff must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant’s negligence was a proximate cause of plaintiff’s injuries.” Burgos v. Aqueduct Realty Corp., 706 N.E.2d 1163, 1165 (N.Y. 1998). “The burden of proof to establish causal negligence is upon the plaintiff.”