DEFENDANT DID NOT DEMONSTRATE WHEN THE AREA WAS LAST INSPECTED AND THEREFORE DID NOT DEMONSTRATE IT LACKED CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE OF THE ICE IN THIS SLIP AND FALL CASE, DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined that the defendant condominium’s motion for summary judgment in this ice slip and fall case should not have been granted. Defendant did not demonstrate when the area had last been inspected:

“A property owner will be held liable for a slip-and-fall accident involving snow and ice on its property only when it created the dangerous condition which caused the accident or had actual or constructive notice of its existence” … . “Thus, a defendant who moves for summary judgment in a slip-and-fall case has the initial burden of making a prima facie showing that it neither created the hazardous condition nor had actual or constructive notice of its existence for a sufficient length of time to discover and remedy it” … . “To meet its initial burden on the issue of lack of constructive notice, [a] defendant must offer some evidence as to when the area in question was last cleaned or inspected relative to the time when the plaintiff fell” … .

Here, Vista II failed to establish, prima facie, that it did not have constructive notice of the alleged patches of ice. In support of its motion, Vista II submitted, inter alia, the deposition testimony of the managing agent of the property, who merely testified about his general inspection practices and provided no evidence regarding any specific inspection of the areas in question prior to the plaintiff’s falls …”. Lauture v Board of Mgrs. at Vista at Kingsgate, Section II, 2019 NY Slip Op 04154, Second Dept 5-29-19