Quarles v. Columbia Sussex Corp.

• Decision Date: 09 March 1998
• Docket Number: No. 96-CV-0754(JS).,96-CV-0754(JS).
• Citation: 997 F.Supp. 327
• Parties: Anne QUARLES, Plaintiff, v. COLUMBIA SUSSEX CORPORATION, Individually and d/b/a Radisson Islandia Hotel, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

997 F.Supp. 327

Anne QUARLES, Plaintiff, v. COLUMBIA SUSSEX CORPORATION, Individually and d/b/a Radisson Islandia Hotel, Defendants.

No. 96-CV-0754(JS).

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

March 9, 1998.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Charles S. Hefter, Oshman & Helfenstein, LLP, New York City, for plaintiff.

Dennis J. Brady, Curtis, Zaklukiewicz, Vasile, Devine, & McElhenny, Merrick, NY, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

SEYBERT, District Judge.

Presently pending before the Court is defendants' motion for summary judgment in this diversity jurisdiction "slip and fall" personal injury negligence action. The defendants have established that there are no genuine issues of material fact in dispute and are entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and therefore, defendants' motion for summary judgment is granted.

BACKGROUND

On Saturday October 20, 1993, the plaintiff, Anne Quarles, was employed by the Teachers Education Institute and was present at the Radisson Islandia Hotel ("Radisson") to teach a course in self esteem to school teachers in the Long Island area. The plaintiff arrived at the Radisson on Friday afternoon and gave the first three hours of instruction that evening. The following morning, the plaintiff went downstairs into the hotel restaurant for breakfast, after which she went into the meeting room to make sure her class materials were in their proper place. About twenty to thirty minutes later, at approximately 8:00 A.M., the plaintiff, wearing flat heeled shoes, proceeded toward the elevator bank intending to return to her room to freshen up before class. En route, while walking on the marble floor in the vicinity of the elevator, she slipped and fell to the ground.

Mr. and Mrs. Sierra apparently observed the fall from a nearby lobby couch and came to the plaintiff's aid. Plaintiff testified at a deposition that the Sierras told her, "you slipped there in the coffee." The plaintiff observed a nine inch by eight inch puddle with a heel mark right through it. The plaintiff also testified that there were people in the lobby area holding coffee cups during the time in question and recalls seeing a coffee cart in the vicinity. After resting a few moments on the floor, the plaintiff was helped up and proceeded to her room.

After returning to the lobby and prior to her 8:30 A.M. class, Ms. Quarles went to the reception desk to fill out an accident report. The plaintiff was informed that hotel desk personnel do not fill out reports and that an assistant manager would contact her. The following day, she spoke with an assistant manager who did not prepare a report of the incident but informed the plaintiff that he had himself previously fallen on the slippery marble floor while placing goods into a closet. On December 3, 1993, during the plaintiff's subsequent visit to the Radisson, an official written report was taken by the manager, Susanne Allen.

Ms. Quarles completed the weekend seminar and was first medically treated on the following Monday, October 22, 1993. She subsequently underwent hip replacement surgery and arthroscopic surgery on her knee.

On February 21, 1996, the plaintiff commenced this instant action by filing a complaint, and is demanding a trial by jury.

DISCUSSION

I. STANDARDS FOR GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c), courts may not grant a motion for summary judgment unless "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The burden of proof is on the moving party to show that there is no genuine issue of material fact, Gallo v. Prudential Residential Servs., L.P., 22 F.3d 1219, 1223 (2d Cir.1994) (citing Heyman v. Commerce & Indus. Ins. Co., 524 F.2d 1317, 1320 (2d Cir.1975)), and "all ambiguities must be resolved and all inferences drawn in favor of the party against whom summary judgment is sought." Id. (citing Eastway Constr. Corp. v. City of New York, 762 F.2d 243, 249 (2d Cir.1985), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 918, 108 S.Ct. 269, 98 L.Ed.2d 226 (1987)). "Factual disputes that are irrelevant or unnecessary will not be counted." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (citing 10A Charles A. Wright, Arthur R. Miller, & Mary Kay Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2725, at 93-95 (1983)).

A party opposing a motion for summary judgment "`may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of his pleading, but ... must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.'" Id. at 248, 106 S.Ct. at 2510 (quoting First Nat'l Bank v. Cities Serv. Co., 391 U.S. 253, 288-89, 88 S.Ct. 1575, 1592, 20 L.Ed.2d 569 (1968)). Under the law of the Second Circuit, "when no rational jury could find in favor of the nonmoving party because the evidence is so slight, there is no genuine issue of material fact and a grant of summary judgment is proper." Gallo, 22 F.3d at 1224 (citing Dister v. Continental Group, Inc., 859 F.2d 1108, 1114 (2d Cir.1988)).

It is within this framework that the Court addresses the present summary judgment motion.

II. A PRIMA FACIE NEGLIGENCE CLAIM

As the alleged negligent acts and the accident occurred in New York, based upon the teachings of lex loci delicti, New York substantive law will govern this diversity action. The defendants claim that summary judgment is appropriate because the plaintiff has failed to establish a prima facie case of negligence. Generally, in a negligence action, a plaintiff must establish that: (1) the defendant owed the plaintiff a cognizable duty of care; (2) the defendant breached that duty; and (3) the plaintiff suffered damage as a proximate result of the breach. See Solomon v. City of New York, 66 N.Y.2d 1026, 1027, 499 N.Y.S.2d 392, 392, 489 N.E.2d 1294 (1985). As the owner or operator of the Radisson, it is a given that the defendants had a duty to maintain the hotel in a reasonably safe condition. See Basso v. Miller, 40 N.Y.2d 233, 241, 386 N.Y.S.2d 564, 568, 352 N.E.2d 868 (1976).

Specifically, to establish a prima facie case of negligence in a slip and fall action, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendants "created the condition which caused the accident, or that the defendant[s] had actual or constructive notice of the condition." Bykofsky v. Waldbaum's Supermarkets, Inc., 210 A.D.2d 280, 619 N.Y.S.2d 760, 761 (2d Dep't 1994). See also Piacquadio v. Recine Realty Corp., 84 N.Y.2d 967, 969, 622 N.Y.S.2d 493, 494, 646 N.E.2d 795 (1994); Gordon v. American Museum of Natural History, 67 N.Y.2d 836, 837, 501 N.Y.S.2d 646, 647, 492 N.E.2d 774 (1986).

A. Creation Of The Condition

The defendants claim that there is no evidence that the defendant Radisson actually created the condition which caused the accident or that they had actual knowledge of its existence. They assert that the mere fact that a coffee cart was set up for guests does not amount to creation.

Through deposition testimony, the plaintiff has established that the Radisson placed an unattended coffee cart in the lobby on a daily basis during the early morning hours, for the use of airline personnel in particular, and guests in general. The cart was apparently available only till 7:00 A.M. In those instances when a large banquet or meeting was held, coffee would be made available in the lobby for the participants. In addition, coffee was obtainable for take-out in the hotel restaurant.

Although no witnesses specifically testified to the origin of the spillage, it can be inferred that the puddle's contents was Radisson coffee. The mere fact that the hotel supplied the coffee, however, does not establish the creation of the puddle, because, the puddle is not a direct consequence of the defendant's passive activity of providing guests with coffee. The intervening act of spilling the coffee creates the condition and it is not attributable to the defendant absent either spilage by the defendants' employees or conduct on the defendants' part which demonstrably increases the risk of creating the condition.

In a case presenting indistinguishable circumstances from the case at bar, the Fourth Appellate Department reversed a denial of summary judgment and held "[t]here is no merit to the contention of plaintiff that defendant created the dangerous condition because the configuration of its banquet room required patrons to carry their drinks across the dance floor from the bar to their tables, thereby creating a danger of spills." Winecki v. West Seneca Post 8113, Inc., 227 A.D.2d 978, 643 N.Y.S.2d 292, 293 (4th Dep't 1996).

When the plaintiff in Huth v. Allied Maintenance Corp., 143 A.D.2d 634, 532 N.Y.S.2d 880 (2d Dep't 1988), slipped and fell in a liquid on the floor of the clubhouse inside Aqueduct Racetrack, some fifteen to twenty feet from the entrance to a restaurant, she sued, inter alia, the restaurant owner/operator, ARA. The court granted summary judgment for the restaurant stating that "[t]he conjecture ... that the spilled soda might have been purchased in one of ARA's concession stands would not, even if true, suffice to make ARA liable for the plaintiff['s] ... fall in absence of proof that ARA itself or one of its employees had caused the spill." Id., 532 N.Y.S.2d at 882. Continuing, the court suggested that "[i]n any event, mere suspicion, surmise and accusation are not enough to defeat a motion for summary judgment." Id. (internal quotation omitted).

Similarly, in Fink v. Board of Education of City of New York, 117 A.D.2d 704, 498 N.Y.S.2d 440 (2d Dep't 1986), the plaintiff tripped over a box in an aisle — which was not there fifteen minutes before — and although the court acknowledged that only the defendant's employees were in the room during the prior quarter hour, it refused to impute the creation of...