STORM IN PROGRESS RULE RELIEVED DEFENDANTS OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR TRACKED IN WATER; EVIDENCE OF ROUTINE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE COUPLED WITH PLAINTIFF’S OBSERVATIONS SHORTLY BEFORE THE ACCIDENT DEMONSTRATED DEFENDANTS DID NOT HAVE ACTUAL OR CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE OF URINE ON FLOOR.
The First Department determined the storm in progress rule relieved defendants of responsibility for tracked in water during a snow storm. With respect to a second accident alleged in the complaint (slipping on urine on the building floor) the court held that evidence of the daily maintenance routine, coupled with plaintiff’s testimony she did not see urine on the floor on the afternoon of the accident (which occurred at 6:30 or 7 pm), demonstrated the defendants did not have constructive notice of the condition:
Here, plaintiff testified that ten or fifteen minutes before her first accident, she saw that it was snowing. Thus, any issue concerning whether defendants made reasonable efforts to remedy the wet condition on the steps of the entry vestibule was beside the point since they had no duty to correct the ongoing problem of pedestrians tracking water into the vestibule, until a reasonable time after the storm ended … .
With respect to plaintiff’s second accident in the building, the court properly concluded that defendants demonstrated prima facie the absence of actual or constructive knowledge of urine on the second floor platform based on the testimony of the superintendent that he inspected daily, mopped three times a week, and swept the stairs every day. Plaintiff also testified that she did not see the urine on the afternoon before her 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. accident, and was unaware of any complaints of a recurring moisture condition on the platform… . Rosario v Prana Nine Props., LLC, 2016 NY Slip Op 06431, 1st Dept 10-4-16
NEGLIGENCE (STORM IN PROGRESS RULE RELIEVED DEFENDANTS OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR TRACKED IN WATER; EVIDENCE OF ROUTINE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE COUPLED WITH PLAINTIFF’S OBSERVATIONS SHORTLY BEFORE THE ACCIDENT DEMONSTRATED DEFENDANTS DID NOT HAVE ACTUAL OR CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE OF URINE ON FLOOR)/EVIDENCE (SLIP AND FALL, STORM IN PROGRESS RULE RELIEVED DEFENDANTS OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR TRACKED IN WATER; EVIDENCE OF ROUTINE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE COUPLED WITH PLAINTIFF’S OBSERVATIONS SHORTLY BEFORE THE ACCIDENT DEMONSTRATED DEFENDANTS DID NOT HAVE ACTUAL OR CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE OF URINE ON FLOOR)/SLIP AND FALL (STORM IN PROGRESS RULE RELIEVED DEFENDANTS OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR TRACKED IN WATER; EVIDENCE OF ROUTINE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE COUPLED WITH PLAINTIFF’S OBSERVATIONS SHORTLY BEFORE THE ACCIDENT DEMONSTRATED DEFENDANTS DID NOT HAVE ACTUAL OR CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE OF URINE ON FLOOR)/STORM IN PROGRESS RULE (STORM IN PROGRESS RULE RELIEVED DEFENDANTS OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR TRACKED IN WATER)/ROUTINE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE (EVIDENCE OF ROUTINE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE COUPLED WITH PLAINTIFF’S OBSERVATIONS SHORTLY BEFORE THE ACCIDENT DEMONSTRATED DEFENDANTS DID NOT HAVE ACTUAL OR CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE OF URINE ON FLOOR)