Opinion
November 13, 1961
In a negligence action by a tenant against her landlords, to recover damages for personal injuries suffered by her, defendants appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County, rendered October 24, 1960 after trial, on the jury's verdict of $15,000 in favor of plaintiff and against defendants. Plaintiff, a tenant in a multiple dwelling owned and maintained by defendants, was cleaning the outside of the upper half of a window in her apartment while she was seated on the window sill and holding on to the "bottom sash of the top window." While so engaged plaintiff fell to the backyard below and was injured when the portion of the window frame or sash which she was holding for support broke by reason of its defective and rotted condition. Judgment affirmed, with costs. Beldock, Acting P.J., Ughetta, Kleinfeld and Pette, JJ., concur; Brennan, J., dissents and votes to reverse the judgment and to dismiss the complaint with the following memorandum: If it be assumed that the window sill was defective and that the jury were entitled to so find, it seems to me that the defective condition would not have become injurious until the plaintiff used it in what might be called or termed an unorthodox manner. So, too, I am of the opinion that in sitting on the window sill and knowing that the window did not function properly or that a part of the window or frame or sill was defective, the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law.