Richards v. Kahn's Realty Corp.
| Decision Date | 11 February 2014 |
| Parties | Lydia RICHARDS, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. KAHN'S REALTY CORPORATION, Defendant–Respondent. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
114 A.D.3d 475
979 N.Y.S.2d 595
2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 00884
Lydia RICHARDS, Plaintiff–Appellant,
v.
KAHN'S REALTY CORPORATION, Defendant–Respondent.
Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, New York.
Feb. 11, 2014.
Asta & Associates, P.C., New York (Eliot S. Bickoff of counsel), for appellant.
Gannon, Rosenfarb, Balletti & Drossman, New York (William J. Crowe of counsel), for respondent.
MAZZARELLI, J.P., FRIEDMAN, RENWICK, DeGRASSE, GISCHE, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Kenneth L. Thompson, Jr., J.), entered May 24, 2012, which granted defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Defendant established prima facie that it was not liable for plaintiff's injuries, which she testified resulted from falling on a dark and slippery internal staircase in defendant's building, because it neither created nor had notice of the allegedly dangerous condition that caused her fall ( see Savio v. Rose Flower Chinese Rest., Inc., 103 A.D.3d 575, 959 N.Y.S.2d 694 [1st Dept. 2013] ). Plaintiff testified that she had never complained to anyone about the alleged defect in the staircase; defendant's witness testified that there had been no complaints about the allegedly defective step before plaintiff's accident, that he was not aware of any accidents in the subject stairwell, that no repairs had been done to the step, and that no building code violations had been issued regarding the step.
In opposition, plaintiff failed to raise an issue of fact. The slippery condition of marble stairs due to their smoothness is not an actionable defect ( see
Sims v. 3349 Hull Ave. Realty Co. LLC, 106 A.D.3d 466, 467, 965 N.Y.S.2d 869 [1st Dept. 2013] ). Plaintiff's testimony as to the darkness is too vague to be sufficient, since she testified that she slipped on the third step from the top of the staircase, not that her foot missed the step because she was unable to see it. Nor does her expert affidavit raise an issue of fact, since the expert cites to provisions of the Administrative Code of the City of New York (former sections 27–127 and 27–128) that are not specific enough to support liability claims ( see Centeno v. 575 E. 137th St. Real Estate, Inc., 111 A.D.3d 531, 975 N.Y.S.2d 335 [1st Dept. 2013] ) and addresses issues that are not material to plaintiff's claims, such as inappropriately located handrails.
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