Shildkrout v. Board of Educ. of City of New York
| Decision Date | 20 May 1991 |
| Parties | , 67 Ed. Law Rep. 1245 Deanna SHILDKROUT, Respondent, v. The BOARD OF EDUCATION OF the CITY OF NEW YORK, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Victor A. Kovner, Corp. Counsel, New York City (Pamela Seider Dolgow and Patrick L. Taylor, of counsel), for appellant.
Philip M. Damashek, P.C., New York City, Seligson, Rothman & Rothman (Martin S. Rothman, Helene Blank and Alyne I. Diamond, of counsel), for respondent.
Before THOMPSON, J.P., and LAWRENCE, HARWOOD and O'BRIEN, JJ.
MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.
In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the defendant appeals from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Cohen, J.), dated November 16, 1988, which, upon a jury verdict, is in favor of the plaintiff and against it in the principal sum of $488,000.
ORDERED that the judgment is reversed, on the law, with costs, and the complaint is dismissed.
The plaintiff, an employee of the defendant Board of Education of the City of New York, was injured when she slipped on spilled coffee in the hallway outside of her office. She alleged that the defendant was negligent in failing to discover and clean up the spill before she fell. In order to establish a prima facie case of negligence, the plaintiff was required to show that the defendant had actual or constructive notice of this condition (see, Lewis v. Metropolitan Trans. Auth., 64 N.Y.2d 670, 485 N.Y.S.2d 252, 474 N.E.2d 612, affg. 99 A.D.2d 246, 472 N.Y.S.2d 368). Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and giving her the benefit of all reasonable inferences that might be drawn therefrom (see, Brocalello v. 540 Madison Ave. Assocs., 147 A.D.2d 519, 537 N.Y.S.2d 827; O'Neil v. Port Auth. of N.Y. & N.J., 111 A.D.2d 375, 489 N.Y.S.2d 585), we are satisfied that no rational trier of fact could have found in her favor. The court therefore erred in denying the defendant's motion pursuant to CPLR 4401, made after the close of the plaintiff's case, for judgment as a matter of law dismissing the complaint for failure to make out a prima facie case of negligence.
The plaintiff failed to present evidence of actual knowledge of the coffee spill on the part of any of the defendant's employees until after the accident had occurred. In order to prove constructive notice, the plaintiff was required to present evidence that the condition was apparent and that it existed for a sufficient length of...
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