News Brief
Farmer, Geraghty and Cahill Secure Pre-answer Dismissal for Youth Sports Team
Jana Farmer (Partner-White Plains), Patrick Geraghty (Partner-New York) and John Cahill (Associate-White Plains) prevailed on a pre-answer motion to dismiss a premises liability matter involving a trip and fall in a parking lot of premises leased by our client from a local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post. Wilson Elser’s client, a local youth sports team, entered into an agreement to lease “a tract of land located behind” the Post, premises not otherwise defined. The Lease Agreement placed certain responsibilities on our client to maintain the premises in a good state of repair and acceptable condition and to “keep the parking space within and adjacent to the premises in a clean and safe condition.” Jana, Patrick and John filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds that the Lease Agreement does not require our client to perform structural repairs to the parking lot, to pave or to provide lighting. New York Supreme Court, Orange County, adopted all our arguments, holding that the accident did not arise from the youth sports program operated by our client and that the Lease Agreement established a defense as a matter of law. The team extends sincere thanks to Angela Belvedere (Legal Secretary-White Plains) for her masterful handling of exhibits and filings in the midst of the pandemic.