The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendant lessee (E & Z) failed to demonstrate it did not have actual or constructive notice of the alleged ice and snow on the sidewalk in this slip and fall action. Once again, it was not enough to offer proof of routine snow removal procedures as opposed to specific evidence inspection or cleaning close in time to the fall:

… [T]here was no statute or ordinance which imposed tort liability on E & Z for the failure to maintain the sidewalk abutting the subject property. However, E & Z’s principal, Hikmatullah Rasul, testified at his deposition that E & Z was required to remove snow and ice from the sidewalk outside the subject property to the curb on both the Jamaica Avenue side and the 104th Street side. Rasul explained that when it snowed either he, his brother, or a restaurant employee would shovel snow, break up any ice, and apply salt. E & Z did not clean at the bottom of the train staircase as that was not its property.

In support of its motion for summary judgment, E & Z failed to establish its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law dismissing the complaint and all cross claims insofar as asserted against it by demonstrating that it was free from negligence … . Specifically, E & Z failed to eliminate triable issues of fact as to whether it undertook snow and ice removal efforts to clear the sidewalk on the night of the plaintiff’s fall, or whether any snow and ice removal efforts undertaken by it created or exacerbated the icy condition which allegedly caused the plaintiff’s fall … . Since E & Z failed to establish its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law, the Supreme Court should have denied E & Z’s motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and all cross claims insofar as asserted against it. Zamora v David Caccavo, LLC, 2021 NY Slip Op 00329, Second Dept 1-20-21

The Second Department, reversing the defendant’s judgment after trial in this slip and fall case, determined the jury should not have been instructed to consider a building code provision because there was not proof when the stairway was constructed:

We agree with the defendant that the Supreme Court should not have charged the jury with regard to certain provisions of the 1925 Administrative Code of the City of New York (hereinafter the Building Code). The plaintiffs failed to submit sufficient proof to establish when the subject stairway was constructed. Thus, the plaintiffs failed to establish which version of the Building Code was applicable … .

Since a general verdict sheet was submitted to the jury, we cannot ascertain whether the jury’s verdict was predicated on a finding that the defendant violated the 1925 Building Code. Accordingly, the judgment must be reversed, and the matter remitted to the Supreme Court, Kings County, for a new trial on the issue of liability. Coreano v 983 Tenants Corp., 2021 NY Slip Op 00290, Second Dept 1-20-21