THERE WAS EVIDENCE DEFENDANTS’ EMPLOYEES DIRECTED TRUCKS TO DRIVE OVER THE DEFECTIVE SIDEWALK WHERE PLAINTIFF SLIPPED AND FELL, RAISING A QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER DEFENDANTS CREATED THE SIDEWALK DEFECT (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined plaintiff raised a question of fact about whether defendants, whose businesses were across the street from the cracked sidewalk where plaintiff fell, created the defect. There was evidence that truck servicing defendants’ businesses drove over the sidewalk to back in to defendants’ loading dock:

… [T]he plaintiff raised a triable issue of fact as to whether the defendants committed an affirmative act of negligence that resulted in the creation of the dangerous condition on the sidewalk … . In opposition to the defendants’ motion, the plaintiff submitted the deposition testimony of an individual who had resided next door to the defendants’ premises for nearly 56 years. The neighbor testified that the street on which he lived was a dead-end street that was mostly residential, and that the drivers of 18-wheel tractor-trailers that made deliveries to the defendants’ business, while maneuvering into the driveway of the premises, frequently drove onto the sidewalk across the street, thereby creating the condition that caused the plaintiff to trip and fall. The neighbor had, on numerous occasions, observed [defendants’ employees] directing truck drivers onto the sidewalk while assisting them in backing up to the loading dock. This evidence was sufficient to raise a triable issue of fact as to whether the actions of the defendants caused or created the hazardous sidewalk condition that allegedly caused the plaintiff’s accident … . Abramson v Janowski’s Hamburgers, Inc., 2023 NY Slip Op 02293, Second Dept 5-3-23

Practice Point: Here there was evidence the sidewalk where plaintiff fell, which was across the street from defendants’ businesses, was driven over by trucks making deliveries to defendants’ businesses, creating the defect.