Opinion
2021-06953 Index 450869/18
12-14-2021
Vera A. Lomtevas, Individually and as the Administrator of the Estate of Daniel Lomtevas, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The City of New York, et al., Defendants, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Defendant-Respondent. Appeal No. 14828 Case No. 2020-02926
Vera A. Lomtevas, appellant pro se. The Port Authority Law Department, New York (Karla Denalli of counsel), for respondent.
Vera A. Lomtevas, appellant pro se.
The Port Authority Law Department, New York (Karla Denalli of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Kern, J.P., Kennedy, Scarpulla, Mendez, Shulman, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Lisa A. Sokoloff, J.), entered October 22, 2019, which granted the motion of defendant The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to dismiss the complaint and the cross claims as against it, unanimously modified, on the law, the complaint as against the Port Authority reinstated, to the extent that plaintiff alleges that the Port Authority breached its duty to maintain the George Washington Bridge in a reasonably safe condition, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.
Plaintiff's decedent died by suicide when he jumped from the George Washington Bridge (GWB), which is owned and operated by the Port Authority. Contrary to the Port Authority's contention that the complaint is addressed to actions taken in its governmental capacity, both this Court and the Second Department have recently held, in cases involving similar facts, that the Port Authority's responsibility for maintaining the guardrail on the pedestrian walkway over the Bridge is a proprietary function rather than a governmental function (Feldman v Port Auth. of N.Y. and N.J., 194 A.D.3d 137, 141-142 [1st Dept 2021]; Perlov v Port Auth. of N.Y. and N.J., 189 A.D.3d 1624, 1627-1628 [2d Dept 2020]; see generally Wittorf v City of New York, 23 N.Y.3d 473, 479 [2014]; Sebastian v State of New York, 93 N.Y.2d 790, 793 [1999]). As in Feldman and Perlov, plaintiff states a cause of action by alleging that the Port Authority, as a property owner, "failed to maintain the GWB in a reasonably safe condition by negligently failing to install suicide barriers along the walkways to prevent suicides," thus presenting a foreseeable risk of harm in light of the allegations concerning the history of the George Washington Bridge's walkway as a place where frequent suicides occur.