The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the single eight inch step which allegedly caused plaintiff to fall was open and obvious and, therefore, not actionable:
Defendants established prima facie entitlement to summary judgment based on evidence that the single 8″ step onto the furniture display platform in defendants’ showroom — on which plaintiff wife tripped — was an illuminated, open and obvious condition which was readily observable by reasonable use of one’s senses … .Plaintiff wife, together with her family, had navigated the single step onto the furniture display platforms earlier that shopping day, and also during an uneventful visit to the same showroom just a few weeks prior to the date of her accident. There was no evidence to indicate that the single step, in its design, placement and maintenance, was inherently dangerous, and the defendants’ use of warning signs to give notice of the step’s presence did not, standing alone, render the steps unsafe.
Plaintiffs have not presented any proof that negligence on the part of defendants in the design, construction or maintenance of the subject step contributed to her fall, or that alleged showroom distractions support grounds to find liability on defendants’ part under the circumstances presented … . Faber v Place Furniture, Inc., 2017 NY Slip Op 09265, First Dept 12-28-17
NEGLIGENCE (SLIP AND FALL, STEP WAS OPEN AND OBVIOUS AND THEREFORE WAS NOT ACTIONABLE IN THIS SLIP AND FALL CASE (FIRST DEPT))/SLIP AND FALL (STEP WAS OPEN AND OBVIOUS AND THEREFORE WAS NOT ACTIONABLE IN THIS SLIP AND FALL CASE (FIRST DEPT))/OPEN AND OBVIOUS (STEP, SLIP AND FALL, STEP WAS OPEN AND OBVIOUS AND THEREFORE WAS NOT ACTIONABLE IN THIS SLIP AND FALL CASE (FIRST DEPT))/STEPS (SLIP AND FALL, STEP WAS OPEN AND OBVIOUS AND THEREFORE WAS NOT ACTIONABLE IN THIS SLIP AND FALL CASE (FIRST DEPT))