Opinion
December 4, 1961
In a negligence action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by plaintiff as the result of his fall in a hotel in which he was a guest, the hotel owner, defendant Lee Socks, Inc., appeals from so much of a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County, entered March 23, 1961 upon a jury's verdict after trial, as is in favor of plaintiff and against it. Judgment insofar as appealed from reversed on the law and the facts, action severed as against said defendant, and new trial granted, with costs to said defendant to abide the event. Plaintiff, a guest at said defendant's hotel, was assaulted by a fellow guest while both were standing at a modern water cooler in the hotel dining room. The fellow guest grabbed plaintiff and pushed him. In this action plaintiff seeks recovery from the hotel owner on the ground that the presence of water on the floor around the water cooler was a concurrent cause of the fall. In our opinion the verdict in favor of the plaintiff is against the weight of the credible evidence. Nolan, P.J., Beldock, Ughetta, Christ and Brennan, JJ., concur.