Opinion
11225 Index 28106/16E
03-10-2020
Jean Van DYK, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. C & M 974 ROUTE 45 LLC, et al., Defendants–Respondents.
Hasapidis Law Offices, Scarsdale (Annette G. Hasapidis of counsel), for appellant. Law Office of James J. Toomey, New York (Jason Meneses of counsel), for respondents.
Hasapidis Law Offices, Scarsdale (Annette G. Hasapidis of counsel), for appellant.
Law Office of James J. Toomey, New York (Jason Meneses of counsel), for respondents.
Gische, J.P., Webber, Gesmer, Kern, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Paul L. Alpert, J.), entered December 27, 2018, which granted defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Plaintiff alleges that she was injured when a heavy door that was stored in a locked medical storage closet in the medical office where she worked tipped over onto her. Defendants established prima facie, through deposition testimony, sworn witness statements, and renewal lease provisions, that they were out-of-possession landlords who had no access to the locked closet and therefore did not possess or control the closet for liability purposes (see Sapp v. S.J.C. 308 Lenox Ave. Family L.P. , 150 A.D.3d 525, 527, 56 N.Y.S.3d 32 [1st Dept. 2017] ).
In opposition, plaintiff failed to raise an issue of fact. The statement by her employer's office manager about defendants' knowledge that the door was stored in the closet is inadmissible hearsay (see O'Halloran v. City of New York , 78 A.D.3d 536, 911 N.Y.S.2d 333 [1st Dept. 2010] ). In any event, it does not avail plaintiff, because the door itself was not inherently dangerous, and there is no evidence that defendants were responsible for the manner in which it was stored—upright against a wall—which was the cause of the accident (see Murray v. New York City Hous. Auth. , 269 A.D.2d 288, 703 N.Y.S.2d 140 [1st Dept. 2000] ).