A New York City Police Officer was seriously injured after responding to a burglary in progress. When the Officer arrived at the scene, the Officer observed the burglar flee outside the apartment window and onto the fire escape. The Officer followed the perpetrator and climbed up the fire escape and onto the roof. While descending the fire escape, the Officer slipped on a rung falling to the floor. The Officer testified that the ladder was in poor condition, rusting and unstable. After the Officer fell, an inspection of the fire escape revealed that the hardware of the fire escape was rusted and had detached from the building wall creating no stability for the fire escape ladder. The Officer sustained a serious knee and ankle injury. The Officer was compelled to undergo knee surgery to repair a complete tear of the ACL and MCL. Unfortunately, the surgery was not successful. The Officer declined a recommendation of a second surgery. The Officer was subsequently awarded a ¾ line-of-duty accidental disability pension. DCD sued the building owner pursuant to GML §205-e claiming the building owner violated the New York City Administrative Code §27-368(a) in failing to maintain a fire escape in a safe manner. The attorneys for the building owners moved to dismiss the Officer’s case claiming the building owner didn’t have the requisite notice of the dangerous condition of the fire escape. The defendant’s lawyer argued that the owner could not have done the necessary repairs prior to the Officer’s fall. Joseph L. Decolator argued that the building owner was responsible for the Officer’s injuries in that they failed to produce records to indicate when the fire escape was last inspected by the building owner and that the accumulated rust on the ladder and the hardware gave the building owner constructive notice of the condition of the fire escape. Mr. Decolator was able to convince a Kings County Supreme Court Justice that the building owner was responsible for the Officer’s injuries. Dominic DiPrisco settled the case for $500,000. The Officer was reluctant to go to trial and accepted the settlement.