Opinion
11752 Index 304288/12
07-02-2020
Mayra MORAN, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. 2085 LLC, et al., Defendants, Webster Lock & Hardware Co. Inc., Defendant–Appellant.
Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, P.C., New York (Adam C. Calvert of counsel), for appellant. William Schwitzer & Associates, P.C., New York (Howard R. Cohen of counsel), for respondent.
Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, P.C., New York (Adam C. Calvert of counsel), for appellant.
William Schwitzer & Associates, P.C., New York (Howard R. Cohen of counsel), for respondent.
Manzanet–Daniels, J.P., Gische, Kern, Oing, Gonza´lez,JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Donald A. Miles, J.), entered on or about December 9, 2019, which denied defendant Webster Lock & Hardware Co. Inc.'s (Webster) motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Defendant Webster was retained to make repairs on a stairway in plaintiff's building, where she fell on a loose step. While Webster claims that, as a contractor, it owed no duty of care to plaintiff, the record presents issues of fact as to whether its welders exercised reasonable care while repairing the stairway and caused the subject step to become loose and unstable, thereby launching a force or instrument of harm, causing plaintiff's injuries (see Espinal v. Melville Snow Contrs., 98 N.Y.2d 136, 139, 746 N.Y.S.2d 120, 773 N.E.2d 485 [2002] ). The property manager for codefendant Chestnut Holding of New York, Inc. testified at his deposition that Webster was retained to repair the stairway, including the step where plaintiff alleges she fell, about a month before the accident and that the work was not completed until after she fell (see Karydas v. Ferrara–Ruurds, 142 A.D.3d 771, 772, 142 A.D.3d 771 [1st Dept. 2016] ; Lopez v. New York Life Ins. Co., 90 A.D.3d 446, 447, 934 N.Y.S.2d 136 [1st Dept. 2011] ). Contrary to Webster's contention, notations on its September 22, 2011 invoice do not definitively establish its initial burden to show that its welders did not cause the subject step to become loose and unstable while repairing the stairway or that it owed no duty to plaintiff with respect to its work (see Cardenas v. Somerset Partners, LLC, 158 A.D.3d 439, 440, 67 N.Y.S.3d 827 [1st Dept. 2018] ).