PROPERTY OWNER PROPERLY FOUND NEGLIGENT IN FAILING TO MOP UP TRACKED IN SNOW AND WATER IN THIS SLIP AND FALL CASE; DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO SET ASIDE THE VERDICT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department determined defendant property owner (a school) was properly found negligent in failing to mop up tracked in snow and water in this slip and fall case. Defendant’s motion to set aside the verdict should not have been granted:
Although a defendant is not required to “provide a constant remedy to the problem of water being tracked into a building during inclement weather, and has no obligation to cover all of its floors with mats or to continuously mop up all moisture resulting from tracked-in precipitation” … , a defendant may be held liable for an injury proximately caused by a dangerous condition created by water, snow, or ice tracked into a building if it either created the hazardous condition, or had actual or constructive notice of the condition and a reasonable time to undertake remedial action … . Here, evidence was presented at trial demonstrating that the defendant had actual notice of the wet condition in the area where the plaintiff fell approximately an hour before the accident, yet failed to remedy it. …
Accordingly, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, and affording her every favorable inference which may properly be drawn from the facts presented, there is a valid line of reasoning and permissible inferences could lead rational individuals to the jury’s conclusion that the defendant was negligent in failing to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition and that its negligence was a substantial factor in causing the plaintiff’s accident … . Allen v Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of N.Y., 2019 NY Slip Op 06462, Second Dept 9-11-19