PROPERTY OWNERS WERE AWARE THE SIDEWALK IN FRONT OF THE RESTAURANT HAD BEEN HOSED DOWN BY RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES ON A COLD DAY; PLAINTIFF WAS ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN THIS ICY-SIDEWALK SLIP AND FALL CASE (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined plaintiff was entitled to summary judgment in this icy-sidewalk slip and fall case. Defendants’ employees hosed down the sidewalk in front of the restaurant on a cold day. The argument that plaintiff saw the ice and should have taken another route (comparative negligence) did not preclude summary judgment in plaintiff’s favor:

To obtain partial summary judgment, a plaintiff does not have to demonstrate the absence of his own comparative fault … . Moreover, plaintiff is not required to show that “defendants’ negligence was the sole proximate cause of the accident to be entitled to summary judgment” … . The evidence plaintiff submitted in support of his motion shows that defendants-tenants … created the dangerous condition when their employees hosed the sidewalk on a cold winter day … . Defendants-owners … had a non delegable duty to maintain the sidewalk and had notice that the restaurant employees had created a dangerous condition, because [the] property manager and … superintendent had observed the restaurants’ employees hosing the sidewalk. Benny v Concord Partners 46th St. LLC, 2020 NY Slip Op 07665, First Dept 12-17-20