Rogelio Roman was injured while roller skating in Central Park.
After Roman's personal-injury lawsuit was filed, the City of New York moved to dismiss the case on the grounds that the municipality never received prior written notice of the purported defect in the one of the park's pathways.
According to New York City Administrative Code § 7- 201(c), the city is solely liable for those defects or hazardous conditions for which it has received prior written notice. If this critical "condition precedent" is not satisfied, an injured individual is left without a remedy against the municipality.
Since Mr. Roman could not demonstrate that the city had received written notice of the pathway defect or that it had created the defect by way of its "own affirmative negligence," the lawsuit was dismissed by the New York County Supreme Court. And on appeal, the Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed.
Now that's a dead end.
For a copy of the Appellate Division's decision, please use this link: Roman v. City of New York