Brown v. New York City Transit Authority

• Decision Date: 04 April 1991
• Parties: Elsie BROWN and Milton Brown, Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT AUTHORITY, et al., Defendants-Appellants, and The City of New York, et al., Defendants.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 54

568 N.Y.S.2d 54

172 A.D.2d 178

Elsie BROWN and Milton Brown, Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT AUTHORITY, et al., Defendants-Appellants and The City of New York, et al., Defendants.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division First Department.

April 4, 1991.

Before MURPHY, P.J., and MILONAS, ELLERIN, ROSS and RUBIN, JJ.

MEMORANDUM DECISION.

Order of the Supreme Court, New York County (Leonard N. Cohen, J.), entered on August 27, 1990 which denied the motion by defendants New York City Transit Authority and Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority for summary judgment pursuant to CPLR 3212 dismissing the complaint and all cross-claims as against them, is unanimously reversed on the law and the motion granted in full, without costs or disbursements. The clerk is directed to enter judgment in favor of defendants-appellants dismissing plaintiff's complaint as against them.

Plaintiff Elsie Brown commenced this personal injury action after she allegedly tripped and fell over a broken bus stop sign that had apparently been reduced to a stump. Her subsequent notice of claim asserted that the offending sign was installed, operated and maintained by defendant Department of Transportation of the City of New York (City) and defendants-appellants New York City Transit Authority and Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (the latter two parties collectively referred to herein as the Transit Authority). Plaintiff thereafter served a complaint in which she again charged that the subject sign was owned, operated and maintained by the City of New York and the Transit Authority defendants; that the bus stop sign "became out of repair, was broken and not visible and a danger to pedestrians"; that both the Transit Authority and the City had knowledge of the dangerous condition and failed to repair it or provide warning to pedestrians; and that plaintiff fell as a result thereof, causing her to sustain injuries. Her ensuing verified bill of particulars stated:

That the aforesaid occurrence and the resulting injuries to the plaintiff, ELSIE BROWN therefrom, were due wholly and solely to the negligence and carelessness of the defendants, their agents, servants and/or employees in the care and maintenance of bus stop signs aforementioned; in causing, permitting, and/or allowing a hazardous condition to exist; in failing to provide a safe and proper area for persons traversing near; in failing to make the necessary repairs; in causing, permitting and allowing a broken bus sign to remain and continue as aforesaid said; in that the defendants failed to take reasonable and proper precautions to warn persons to the broken bus sign; in that said condition was in violation of the laws and regulations of the State of New York; in failing to exercise reasonable care, diligence and prudence in the premises and in being generally negligent and careless under the circumstances.

At plaintiff's deposition, she testified that she and her husband, now deceased, were waiting with about five other passengers for a bus on Madison Avenue between 84th and 85th Streets when, after some fifteen to thirty minutes, the M-4 bus arrived. As she walked toward the curb, plaintiff purportedly tripped and fell over a cement block (presumably the remainder of the bus sign), which she had not noticed prior to the accident. According to plaintiff, there were no obstructions or hazards within five feet on either side of the block, and the weather was clear and sunny at the time. Since plaintiff seemed to be advancing no other theory of liability except the one relating to the dangerous condition created by the broken bus stop sign, the Transit Authority defendants moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and...