Mandel v. 370 Lexington Avenue, LLC, 8454.

• Court: New York Supreme Court Appellate Division
• Citation: 32 A.D.3d 302,2006 NY Slip Op 06256,820 N.Y.S.2d 249
• Docket Number: 8454.
• Parties: ELLEN MANDEL et al., Respondents, v. 370 LEXINGTON AVENUE, LLC, et al., Appellants.
• Decision Date: 17 August 2006

32 A.D.3d 302 820 N.Y.S.2d 249 2006 NY Slip Op 06256 ELLEN MANDEL et al., Respondents,
v.
370 LEXINGTON AVENUE, LLC, et al., Appellants. 8454. Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, First Department. August 17, 2006.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Louis B. York, J.), entered January 4, 2006, which denied defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, the motion granted and the complaint dismissed. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment accordingly.

Plaintiff Ellen Mandel was injured while working in a storage room leased to Steven J. Mandel PC, a law firm operated by her husband, plaintiff Steven Mandel. The room contained about ten partitions, used to form office cubicles, each about six feet high, which were allegedly the property of the building and which were stacked together, leaning up against one of the walls. In connection with a contemplated move to larger offices, the law firm placed furniture, cabinets, desks, tables, chairs and cartons in the storage space, which was enclosed by cement walls and chain-link fencing. No one from the building, which is owned by defendant 370 Lexington Avenue, LLC, and managed by defendant Murray Hill Properties, supervised or assisted with the placement of items into storage, after which the door to the storage room was padlocked by Steven Mandel.

On the date of the accident, plaintiff Ellen Mandel was taking inventory of the stored items, which involved opening the cartons and organizing their contents. As she worked on cartons within about three feet of the partitions, she was struck by a piece of glass from the top of a table, owned by the law firm, with the result that her arm "was sliced down to the bone," requiring two surgeries to restore her ability to open her left hand. She testified that she remembered the partitions "like moving like sort of shifting," and then looking down and seeing her arm cut open but, she stated, "I have no memory of it actually happening." She further stated that she never saw the glass tabletop at any time prior to the accident.

32 A.D.3d 303

Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that there is no evidence that they either created or had notice of any hazardous condition that contributed to Ellen Mandel's injury; nor could plaintiffs offer more than speculation as to the cause of the injury. In opposition, plaintiffs argued that there are...