Macris v. Matta, 2012 NY Slip Op. 08701 (2d Dept. 2012)

The firm successfully defended an appeal made by landowners who sought $400,000 in property damages allegedly stemming from the acts of wild beavers on the Defendants’ property. The Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed the Defendant-landowners’ entitlement to summary judgment dismissing the lawsuit, thereby confirming that the Defendants had no affirmative duty to remedy a natural condition on their property. The Court found that the beaver dam erected on the Defendants’ rural land was a natural condition that the Defendants were not required to remove in an effort prevent flooding damages to their downstream neighbors’ property.