Hughes v. City of Niagara Falls

Memorandum: Plaintiff was injured when he was struck by a decayed tree limb that had fallen from a tree alongside a street in the City of Niagara Falls. Supreme Court erred in granting the motion of defendant City of Niagara Falls (City) for summary judgment dismissing the complaint for failure to comply with a City Charter provision requiring prior written notice of a defective condition of a tree. We reject plaintiff’s contention that the City’s alleged failure to detect and remove the decayed tree limb before it fell constitutes affirmative negligence, rendering the City’s prior written…