Opinion
October 17, 1994
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (LeVine, J.).
Ordered that the order is reversed, on the law, the motion is granted and the complaint is dismissed insofar as it is asserted against the defendants Foodtown, Big Mel of North Woodmere, Inc., and Melmarkets, Inc., and the cross claims against those defendants are also dismissed; and it is further,
Ordered that the appellants are awarded one bill of costs payable by the defendants-respondents.
It is well settled that liability for injuries sustained by a shopping center patron due to defects in the surface of the shopping center's parking lot attaches to parties in possession or in control of the parking lot (see, Farrar v. Teicholz, 173 A.D.2d 674). In this case, the appellants are the operators of a supermarket that is located in a shopping center that is owned by the defendant landlords. The appellants established as a matter of law that they did not own, occupy, possess, or put to a special use, the parking lot where the plaintiff Anna Rosato was injured. Thus, they owed her no duty of care to maintain the parking lot, and they of may not be held liable for permitting the existence of the alleged defective condition in the parking lot (see, Feinman v. Cantone, 192 A.D.2d 577; Zadarosni v. F. W. Restauranteurs, 192 A.D.2d 1051; Smith v Fishkill Health-Related Ctr., 184 A.D.2d 963; Dunn v. Reardon, 184 A.D.2d 1064; Turrisi v. Ponderosa, Inc., 179 A.D.2d 956; Shire v. Ferdinando, 161 A.D.2d 573; McGill v. Caldors, Inc., 135 A.D.2d 1041). Bracken, J.P., Lawrence, Santucci and Goldstein, JJ., concur.