On August 29, 2019 a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice ruled that the owner of a building on the upper west side was legally liable for the injuries suffered by a pedestrian who tripped face forward over a pile of Christmas trees discarded on the sidewalk. The accident occurred late at night when the pedestrian tripped when her pant leg was caught by a tree branch causing her to fall and fracture her nose and teeth.

Photographs and admissions proved that the building owner piled Christmas trees and garbage bags on the sidewalk obstructing pedestrian traffic in an unsafe and negligent manner. This practice violated the New York City Administrative Code which requires the owner of an apartment building to maintain the sidewalk abutting its property in a reasonably safe condition. A jury will now decide how much money to award the plaintiff to compensate her for the injuries suffered Deluca v Cachet Management LLC, 2019 WL 4089746