VERONICA A. ZUNNO

Veronica A. Zunno is an associate in the Insurance Defense practice group. She is experienced in handling tort defense litigation involving premises liability, construction accidents, general liability and medical malpractice.

Veronica graduated from St. John’s University in 1982. She obtained a Lawyers’ Assistant Certificate from Adelphi University, and then attended Hofstra University School of Law, graduating in 1988. She joined the firm of Jones Hirsch Connors & Bull in 1989, practicing in its medical malpractice defense group until 1996. Following a period where she raised her children full-time, she returned to law practice as a per diem attorney, preparing summary judgment and substantive motions for several insurance defense firms in cases involving premises liability, New York Labor Law 200, 240(1) and 241 (6) and related issues.

Representative Matters:

• Obtained and sustained summary judgment upon reargument on behalf of office building owner and managing agent where five plaintiffs claimed injury when a freight elevator dropped, reversed upward and dropped again, due to a defect that resulted from lack of normal maintenance. Owner contracted with elevator maintenance company which had “locked out” its employees, due to a labor dispute. The Court agreed that all maintenance was nevertheless the exclusive obligation of the contractor, and did not extend to the owner and managing agent.

• Obtained summary judgment for property owners in several labor law cases, successfully arguing that plaintiffs’ injuries were the result of inherent hazards and the usual, ordinary dangers found at construction sites, achieving dismissal of plaintiffs’ Labor Law 240(1), 200, 241(6) and common law negligence claims. Cases involved: a plaintiff employee of a sub-contractor performing demolition work at an elevated height when a metal sheet embedded in a wall behind sheetrock he was removing fell, striking and injuring him; a plaintiff sub-contractor employee who, while working on a sidewalk bridge, lost his balance and fell on a beam he had just installed. Plaintiff stepped on the beam which had just been painted, causing his foot to stick and he lost his balance.

• Obtained summary judgment for a culinary institute where plaintiff, an adult culinary student, was injured during a fish preparation course where she claimed she was not properly supervised and instructed. The court agreed with the institute’s argument that it properly instructed and supervised her, did not breach its duty to her, and that the school was not reasonably expected to supervise and control all of her movement and activity.

• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of property owners in premises liability cases, arguing lack of notice/ trivial defect, including cases involving: a plaintiff visitor to a country club who slipped on a wet wooden ramp; a plaintiff visitor to an outdoor event who tripped while walking from a grass surface to a pathway; a plaintiff guest at a party who claimed property owner should have known of violent propensity of another guest who injured the plaintiff during an altercation.