The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendant’s motion for summary judgment should have been granted in this slip and fall case. The plaintiff could not identify the cause of his fall as he attempted to board a bus:
“[A] plaintiff’s inability to identify the cause of the fall is fatal to the cause of action because a finding that the defendant’s negligence, if any, proximately caused the plaintiff’s injuries would be based on speculation” … . Although “[p]roximate cause may be established without direct evidence of causation, by inference from the circumstances of the accident[,] . . . mere speculation as to the cause of an accident, when there could have been many possible causes, is fatal to a cause of action” … . “Where it is just as likely that some other factor, such as a misstep or a loss of balance, could have caused a trip and fall accident, any determination by the trier of fact as to causation would be based upon sheer speculation” … . Hahn v Go Go Bus Tours, Inc., 2016 NY Slip Op 07294, 2nd Dept 11-9-16
NEGLIGENCE (PLAINTIFF UNABLE TO IDENTIFY THE CAUSE OF HIS FALL, DEFENDANT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED SUMMARY JUDGMENT)/SLIP AND FALL (PLAINTIFF UNABLE TO IDENTIFY THE CAUSE OF HIS FALL, DEFENDANT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED SUMMARY JUDGMENT)