Opinion
7858 Index 300900/16
12-13-2018
Nuris BLANCO, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. 866 MORRIS PARK REALTY MANAGEMENT, LLC, Defendant–Appellant.
Molod Spitz & DeSantis, P.C., New York (Marcy Sonneborn of counsel), for appellant. Pen~a & Kahn, PLLC, Bronx (Diane Welch Bando of counsel), for respondent.
Molod Spitz & DeSantis, P.C., New York (Marcy Sonneborn of counsel), for appellant.
Pen~a & Kahn, PLLC, Bronx (Diane Welch Bando of counsel), for respondent.
Friedman, J.P., Gische, Kapnick, Kahn, Kern, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Joseph E. Capella, J.), entered on or about February 21, 2018, which denied defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Defendant failed to establish entitlement to judgment as a matter of law in this action where plaintiff alleges that she was injured when she slipped and fell while descending a staircase in defendant's building, which was wet with ice and melting ice that plaintiff believed had been tracked in from outside. Defendant failed to demonstrate its lack of constructive notice of the wet condition of the steps, since it offered only the testimony of its building manager, who could not say when the stairs were last cleaned or inspected, or whether the handyman had cleared snow outside the building at any time before the accident (see e.g. Gautier v. 941 Intervale Realty LLC, 108 A.D.3d 481, 970 N.Y.S.2d 191 [1st Dept. 2013]; Aviles v. 2333 1st Corp., 66 A.D.3d 432, 887 N.Y.S.2d 18 [1st Dept. 2009] ). Defendant also offered no evidence of when the weekly cleaning of the stairs occurred before the accident (see Modzelewska v. City of New York, 31 A.D.3d 314, 819 N.Y.S.2d 498 [1st Dept. 2006] ).
In view of defendant's failure to meet its prima facie burden, plaintiff's opposition papers need not be considered (see Winegrad v. New York Univ. Med. Ctr., 64 N.Y.2d 851, 853, 487 N.Y.S.2d 316, 476 N.E.2d 642 [1985] ).
We have considered defendant's remaining contentions and find them unavailing.