DEFENDANT PROPERTY OWNER/MANAGER’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED; DEFENDANTS DEMONSTRATED THEY DID NOT HAVE NOTICE OF ANY PROBLEMS WITH A DOOR WHICH ALLEGEDLY MALFUNCTIONED CAUSING PLAINTIFF’S DECEDENT TO FALL OUT OF A WHEELCHAIR LIFT (FIRST DEPT).

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The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendants’ [property owner/manager’s ?] motion for summary judgment should have been granted. Plaintiff alleged the door to a wheelchair lift on the exterior of the building where plaintiffs lived malfunctioned causing plaintiff’s decedent to fall out of the lift. The defendants presented evidence they did not have notice of any problems with the door:

Defendants established prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law in this action where plaintiff’s decedent was injured when the door to the wheelchair lift on the exterior of the building in which they lived malfunctioned causing him to fall out of the lift. Defendants submitted evidence demonstrating that they did not have notice of any malfunction in the subject door through service records showing no issues related to the door opening prematurely … .

In opposition, plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact. Plaintiff did not submit any evidence that complaints about the lift were similar in nature or caused by similar contributing factors … . Nor is the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur applicable under the circumstances presented … . Pui Kum Ng Lee v Chatham Green, Inc., 2020 NY Slip Op 00069, First Dept 1-7-20