Opinion
8591 Index 162414/14
03-05-2019
Law Office of Ephrem J. Wertenteil, New York (Ephrem J. Wertenteil of counsel), for appellant. Ahmuty, Demers & McManus, New York (Frank J. Wenick of counsel), for respondents.
Law Office of Ephrem J. Wertenteil, New York (Ephrem J. Wertenteil of counsel), for appellant.
Ahmuty, Demers & McManus, New York (Frank J. Wenick of counsel), for respondents.
Sweeny, J.P., Renwick, Gische, Kahn, Kern, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Erika M. Edwards, J.), entered May 15, 2017, which granted defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, and the motion denied.
Triable issues of fact exist in this action where plaintiff was injured when, while descending the interior steps of defendants' building, she slipped on melted ice cream that was present on the steps. Although defendants' superintendent testified that he complied with his regular maintenance routine on the day of the accident and never observed the cup of ice cream on the stairs, plaintiff testified that she observed the cup of ice cream in an upright position approximately three hours before her fall when she had returned home from work. Such conflicting testimony, along with a photograph showing a tipped over cup of melted ice cream taken moments after plaintiff's fall, creates a triable issue as to whether defendants had constructive notice of the condition (see Kurtz v. Supercuts, Inc. , 127 A.D.3d 546, 8 N.Y.S.3d 60 [1st Dept. 2015] ).