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DEFENDANTS IN THIS WET-FLOOR SLIP AND FALL CASE WERE NOT ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT; DEFENDANTS DID NOT DEMONSTRATE WHEN THE AREA WAS LAST INSPECTED BEFORE THE FALL AND THERE WAS EVIDENCE THE MAT AND WARNING SIGN PLACED IN THE AREA WERE INADEQUATE (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendants were not entitled to summary judgment in this wet-floor slip and fall case. There was no evidence when the area was last inspected prior to fall. And there was evidence the mat and warning sign placed in the area were inadequate:

… [D]efendants failed to make a prima facie showing that they lacked actual or constructive notice of the hazardous condition caused by the wet and slippery floor where plaintiff fell, as they did not submit any evidence establishing when they last inspected the vestibule on the day of the accident … . Rather, the evidence shows that the building’s superintendent was aware of the hazardous condition and tried to address it with a mat and caution sign. In addition, plaintiffs raised issues of fact as to whether these precautions were reasonable under the circumstances. Although a landlord is not obligated to continuously mop moisture tracked onto the floor of its premises by people entering from outside or to cover the entire floor with mats, here plaintiff claims that her accident was caused by the building superintendent’s placement of an unreasonably short anti-slip floor mat on known wet, glossy tiles on a newly laid floor … . Plaintiffs also claim that defendants failed to check to see if the wet floor warning sign remained in place after it was initially placed as a precautionary device. Rodriguez v KWIK Realty, LLC, 2023 NY Slip Op 02471, First Dept 5-9-23

Practice Point: In a slip and fall case the defendant must show the area was inspected close in time to the fall in order to prove a lack of constructive notice.

Practice Point: Even where, as here, the defendant attempts to address the dangerous condition (placing a mat and a warning sign in the area of the wet floor0 a question of fact may be raised about whether the measures taken were adequate.

Similar constructive-notice issue and result in Gomez v Samaritan Daytop Vil., Inc., 2023 NY Slip Op 02458, First Dept 5-9-23

 

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