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PLAINTIFF FELL WHEN HER FOOT BECAME ENTANGLED IN CORDS OR TUBES CONNECTED TO MEDICAL EQUIPMENT IN A HOSPITAL ROOM; DEFENDANT DID NOT DEMONSTRATE THE CORDS OR TUBES WERE OPEN AND OBVIOUS AND NOT INHERENTLY DANGEROUS; DEFENDANT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AWARDED SUMMARY JUDGMENT (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the tubes or cords attached to medical equipment in a neurologic intensive care unit which caused plaintiff’s slip and fall were not demonstrated to be “open and obvious and not inherently dangerous:”

“While a possessor of real property has a duty to maintain that property in a reasonably safe condition, there is no duty to protect or warn against an open and obvious condition that, as a matter of law, is not inherently dangerous” … . “A condition is open and obvious if it is readily observable by those employing the reasonable use of their senses, given the conditions at the time of the accident” … . Moreover, “[a] condition that is ordinarily apparent to a person making reasonable use of his or her senses may be rendered a trap for the unwary where the condition is obscured or the plaintiff is distracted” … . The question of whether a condition is open and obvious is usually a question of fact properly resolved by a jury … .

Here, the defendant failed to establish, prima facie, that the alleged condition of the tubes or cords was open and obvious and not inherently dangerous under the circumstances surrounding the accident … . Butler v NYU Winthrop Hosp., 2024 NY Slip Op 01289, Second Dept 3-13-24\

Practice Point: Whether a condition is open and obvious and not inherently dangerous is usually a question for the jury. Here, in this slip and fall case, there was a question of fact whether cords or tubes connected to medical equipment constituted an open and obvious condition which was not inherently dangerous.

 

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