In a decision dated March 31, 2026, Hon. Chereé A. Buggs of Queens County Supreme Court granted our client Junction Sports Plus Inc.’s motion for summary judgment dismissing the plaintiff’s complaint as a matter of law. The plaintiff alleged that she tripped and fell on a brick sidewalk on Junction Boulevard in Queens, New York, due to a raised brick. It is alleged that our client, the tenant of the adjacent building, was negligent in failing to maintain/repair the sidewalk. At multiple depositions, the plaintiff testified differently regarding the location of the condition on which she tripped.  In an earlier appeal, the Appellate Division, Second Department, held that the plaintiff could not identify the cause of her fall without engaging in speculation. Our motion for summary judgment was based on that holding being the law of the case. In opposition, nine years after the accident, the plaintiff introduced for the first time an affidavit of her brother who came to the scene after her fall. In the affidavit, the plaintiff’s brother identified the specific height and location of the raised brick on which the plaintiff allegedly tripped. In granting Junction’s motion for summary judgment, the Court found the plaintiff’s attempt to introduce the affidavit was improper at this stage, and after nine motions for summary judgment, the plaintiff had no reasonable explanation as to why the affidavit wasn’t submitted earlier.

Zorayda Hernandez v. 38-09 Junction Realty LLC et al., Index No. 714742/2017 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Co., Mar. 31, 2026)