QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER DEFENDANT PROPERTY OWNER HAD NOTICE OF THE ALLEGED ELEVATOR MISALIGNMENT PROBLEM WHICH ALLEGEDLY CAUSED PLAINTIFF’S SLIP AND FALL; SUPREME COURT REVERSED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined there was a question of fact whether the elevator was functioning properly and whether defendant had actual or constructive knowledge of the misalignment which allegedly caused plaintiff’s slip and fall:

… [T]he property defendants demonstrated their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by establishing, through the deposition testimony of their witnesses and an expert affidavit, that no complaints were ever made about misalignment of the elevator, that routine inspections of the building by employees did not reveal the presence of such a condition, and that an inspection conducted of the elevator three days before the accident did not reveal any defects that would cause misalignment.

… [T]he plaintiff submitted, among other things, an affidavit from her mother, who then resided in the building, asserting that during the month preceding the accident, she observed misalignment of the elevator “almost every day,” and that, in response to a complaint about misalignment by another resident, a member of the condominium’s Board of Managers had acknowledged the problem in her presence … . The plaintiff also submitted evidence demonstrating the documented occurrence of prior similar incidents of misalignment, and an unsatisfactory inspection report for the elevator, completed three days before the accident, which, according to the plaintiff’s expert, and contrary to the averment of the property defendants’ expert and other witnesses, evinced defects which would cause misalignment. The plaintiff’s evidence was sufficient to raise a triable issue of fact as to whether the property defendants had notice of the allegedly defective condition that caused the plaintiff’s accident … . Napolitano v Jackson “78” Condominium, 2020 NY Slip Op 04955, Second Dept 9-16-20