Kristine Y. Pegno

Kurt Krauss (Partner-Madison, NJ) and Kristine Pegno (Of Counsel-Madison, NJ) defended a property owner in a case involving a claim for injury resulting from a fall on premises owned by the client, who had leased the property under the terms of a triple net lease to the tenant, including a provision that all maintenance and repairs were the responsibility of the tenant. The plaintiff was working on the subject premises as a truck driver at the time of his accident and had already brought a workers’ compensation claim against his employer when he separately sued our client. The initial summary judgment motion was denied based on what the judge found to be an issue of fact regarding whether there was one or more lessees under the master lease agreement. Following additional discovery and several other related motions, the motion for summary judgment was refiled. Based on the fully developed record, Union County Superior Court found that the terms of the lease placed all responsibility for maintenance and repair on the tenant and that, under such circumstances, the property owner owed no duty to the plaintiff as a matter of law. The court separately granted Summary Judgment as to Count II of the Complaint, which was a negligent construction claim, finding that the plaintiff’s admissions in discovery about the location of his fall rendered the claim legally untenable. As such, this was a terrific win for our client! 

John O'Toole (Partner-Madison, NJ) and Kristine Pegno (Associate-Madison, NJ) obtained summary judgment on cross-claims against a codefendant for defense and indemnification. In this premises liability suit, Wilson Elser represented the property owner and management company in a case involving an alleged fall by a plaintiff on black ice on the subject premises. The matter was tendered to the client’s snow removal contractor based on indemnification and additional insured provisions of the contract. When the contractor failed to respond to the tender, John and Kristine filed a motion for summary judgment on the cross-claims against the contractor for defense and indemnification.

Following oral argument, the NJ Superior Court, Law Division, Bergen County granted the motion for summary judgment and issued a 13-page decision in support of the order, adopting in large part our legal arguments. In addition to ordering the co-defendant to defend and indemnify our client, the court awarded attorneys’ fees. This was a big win for the client and resulted in a beneficial written opinion that will be useful in future defense and indemnity cases.

John O’Toole (Partner-Madison, NJ) and Kristine Pegno (Associate-Madison, NJ) obtained summary judgment in the Superior Court of New Jersey – Camden County for Wilson Elser’s client, a national property management company. The plaintiff alleged injuries resulting from a fall on our client’s property. The complaint identified the client’s apartment complex as the location of the fall. Still, the answers to interrogatories were ambiguous and suggested a site that was not a part of the subject premises. This uncertainty prompted John and Kristine to carefully craft requests for admissions, a little- used but valuable discovery tool, forcing the plaintiff to admit that the address where the injury occurred was not on our client’s property. Based upon the plaintiff’s admissions, John and Kristine filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that Wilson Elser’s client owed no duty of care to the plaintiff as a matter of law. The court agreed and dismissed the complaint in its entirety.