QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER PROPERTY OWNER EXACERBATED OR CREATED THE DANGEROUS CONDITION IN THIS SNOW-RELATED SLIP AND FALL CASE 2ND DEPT.
The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, in the context of a legal malpractice action, determined plaintiff had raised a question of fact whether the property owner created or exacerbated the dangerous condition by snow removal efforts. Plaintiff alleged she fell while stepping over a pile of snow:
Here, the defendant failed to demonstrate his prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law dismissing the cause of action to recover damages for legal malpractice on the ground that the plaintiff could not have prevailed in an action against the property owner. While the defendant demonstrated, prima facie, through certified meteorological data and the plaintiff’s deposition testimony, that the accident occurred less than one hour after the snowstorm ceased, he did not eliminate triable issues of fact as to whether the property owner created or exacerbated a hazardous condition through negligent snow removal efforts … . In particular, in light of the plaintiff’s deposition testimony, a triable issue of fact exists as to whether the property owner, upon clearing snow from a small portion of the premises, had left a pile of snow that the plaintiff had to “lift [her] leg” to “cross” over, causing her to slip and fall. Accordingly, that branch of the defendant’s motion which was for summary judgment dismissing the legal malpractice cause of action should have been denied. Balan v Rooney, 2017 NY Slip Op 05801, 2nd Dept 7-26-17
NEGLIGENCE (SLIP AND FALL, QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER PROPERTY OWNER EXACERBATED OR CREATED THE DANGEROUS CONDITION IN THIS SNOW-RELATED SLIP AND FALL CASE 2ND DEPT)/SLIP AND FALL (QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER PROPERTY OWNER EXACERBATED OR CREATED THE DANGEROUS CONDITION IN THIS SNOW-RELATED SLIP AND FALL CASE 2ND DEPT)