Defendants Failed to Make Allegations Sufficient to Demonstrate a Lack of Constructive Notice of the Condition of a Floor Mat (Slip and Fall)—Summary Judgment Should Not Have Been Granted in Favor of Defendants

The Second Department determined the defendants’ motion for summary judgment in a slip and fall case should have been denied.  The defendants failed to make sufficient allegations demonstrating a lack of constructive notice of the condition of a floor mat:

To impose liability upon the laundromat defendants for the plaintiff’s fall, there must be evidence tending to show that those defendants either created the condition or had actual or constructive notice of it and failed to remedy it within a reasonable time … . To meet their initial burden on the issue of lack of constructive notice, the laundromat defendants must offer some evidence as to when the area in question was last cleaned or inspected relative to the time when the plaintiff fell … .

Here, the laundromat defendants did not meet their initial burden of establishing their [*2]entitlement to judgment as a matter of law. The laundromat defendants failed to submit evidence sufficient to establish that they inspected the mat within a reasonable time prior to the accident. Thus, they failed to establish, prima facie, that they did not have constructive notice of the alleged hazardous condition of the mat … . Francis v Super Clean Laundromat Inc, 2014 NY Slip Op 03650, 2nd Dept 5-21-14

Same issue and result in Maloney v Farris, 2014 NY Slip Op 03663, 2nd Dept 5-21-14

Same issue and result in Rogers v Bloomingdale’s Inc, 2014 NY Slip Op 03675, 2nd Dept 5-21-14,  noting that evidence of the store’s general cleaning procedures without any specifics about when the area where the fall occurred was last inspected or cleaned does not raise a question of fact about a lack of constructive notice.