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A fall outside a Carnegie Hill townhouse last winter has turned into a lawsuit against both the homeowners and the city, and depending on how one city rule applies, taxpayers could be the ones footing the bill.
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Former Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney says she slipped and fell on the sidewalk in front of 134 East 92nd Street on February 15, according to the complaint her lawyers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court on October 13. The suit names the City of New York and the home’s owners, Gregory Quinn and Mary M. Quinn, and blames them for the sidewalk’s “dangerous, defective, and unsafe condition.”The complaint itself doesn’t name a dollar figure or describe her injuries in detail. But the New York Post, which reported the case Thursday, says she’s seeking more than $1 million and that she slipped on snow and ice. According to Maloney’s notice of claim, as described by the Post, the fall fractured her shoulder and required an ambulance, a hospital stay and surgery. The Post also reports she’s claiming permanent disabilities, lost wages and lost future earnings.
Before anyone can sue the city, they have to file a notice of claim, a formal heads-up describing the injury, within 90 days. Maloney’s complaint says she did. It also says the city has since held what’s known as a 50-h hearing, where city lawyers get to question the person making the claim under oath, and that the city hasn’t paid or settled the claim.
The suit also alleges that the city got written notice about the sidewalk’s condition more than 15 days before her fall, including because of earlier accidents there. It further claims the city created the condition in the first place.
The home is a 3,200-square-foot single-family townhouse that its owners bought in 2018 for nearly $6 million. Mary Quinn told the Post she didn’t remember seeing Maloney fall outside her home in February. She also said she had no reaction to the lawsuit because she hadn’t seen it yet.
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In most of the city, the owner of a building is legally responsible for the sidewalk in front of it, including clearing snow and ice, and can be sued when someone gets hurt there. But city law carves out an exception for one-, two- and three-family homes that are owner-occupied and used only as residences. That means the townhouse owners could get a pass, leaving the city, and by extension taxpayers, on the hook if Maloney’s claim succeeds.Maloney represented the Upper East Side in Congress for 30 years. Her tenure ended after redistricting following the 2020 census merged the Upper East Side and Upper West Side into a single district, and she lost the 2022 primary to Jerry Nadler.
Her attorney, Anthony Zullo, declined to comment, telling the Post it was too early in the process to say anything.
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