Santana v. State

• Decision Date: 31 January 2012
• Citation: 2012 N.Y. Slip Op. 00771,91 A.D.3d 937,938 N.Y.S.2d 157
• Parties: Justin Luis SANTANA, etc., respondent, v. STATE of New York, appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

2012 N.Y. Slip Op. 00771
91 A.D.3d 937
938 N.Y.S.2d 157

Justin Luis SANTANA, etc., respondent,
v.
STATE of New York, appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

Jan. 31, 2012.

[938 N.Y.S.2d 157]

Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, Albany, N.Y. (Andrea Oser and Kathleen M. Arnold of counsel), for appellant.

Dell, Little, Trovato & Vecere, LLP, Bohemia, N.Y. (Jay J. Massaro of counsel), for respondent.

PETER B. SKELOS, J.P., RANDALL T. ENG, LEONARD B. AUSTIN, and ROBERT J. MILLER, JJ.

[91 A.D.3d 938] In a claim to recover damages for personal injuries, the defendant appeals from an interlocutory judgment of the Court of Claims (Soto, J.), dated July 6, 2010, which, upon a decision of the same court dated June 8, 2010, made after a nonjury trial on the issue of liability, finding it 100% at fault in the happening of the accident, is in favor of the claimant and against it.

ORDERED that the interlocutory judgment is affirmed, with costs.

On May 12, 2007, the infant claimant's mother (hereinafter the mother) slipped on water and fell to the floor at Queensboro Correctional Facility, a facility owned and operated by the defendant, in the course of her employment as a corrections officer.

[938 N.Y.S.2d 158]

The mother, who was pregnant, was transported to Elmhurst Hospital and gave birth, prematurely, to the claimant later that same day. The claimant, by his mother, brought the instant claim against the defendant, seeking to recover damages for personal injuries he allegedly sustained as a result of the mother's slip and fall. In the claim and his bills of particulars, the claimant alleged that the mother's slip and fall, which he identified as the “incident” or the “occurrence” at issue, had been caused by the defendant's negligence and that, as a result of such negligence, he had sustained severe injuries, including his premature birth.

Following a nonjury trial on the issue of liability only, the Court of Claims concluded that the claimant had proven, by a preponderance of the credible evidence, that the mother's slip and fall had been proximately caused by a dangerous and recurring condition of which the defendant had notice, and it entered an interlocutory judgment finding the defendant “100% liable.” The defendant appeals, and we affirm.

On appeal, the defendant's sole contention is that the determination of liability is unsupported by the record because the claimant failed to offer any evidence of a causal...