Summary
The Appellate Division, First Department, unanimously affirmed a judgment granting defendants summary judgment in a premises-liability action arising from a slip and fall on water during an ongoing rainstorm. The court held that defendants lacked constructive notice of a dangerously wet floor and were not required to continuously mop tracked-in water or produce written maintenance logs.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether defendants were entitled to summary judgment in a premises-liability action arising from plaintiff's slip and fall on rainwater tracked into a hotel during an ongoing rainstorm.
- Whether the evidence established that defendants had constructive notice of a dangerously wet floor or were required to produce written maintenance logs to negate constructive notice.
Holdings
- Summary judgment was properly granted to defendants because defendants were not required to provide a constant ongoing remedy for moisture tracked indoors during an ongoing rainstorm, and the record did not establish constructive notice of a dangerously wet floor.
- Under the circumstances, defendants were not required to produce written maintenance logs because witness testimony, corroborating affidavit evidence, and video evidence sufficiently established the absence of constructive notice.
Key quotations
“Given that it was raining, defendants were "not required to provide a constant ongoing remedy for an alleged slippery condition caused by moisture tracked indoors during the storm"” ([*1])
Factual background
Plaintiff slipped and fell on water while entering the revolving door of a hotel owned and maintained by defendants during an ongoing rainstorm. A hotel security guard witnessed the accident and testified that housekeeping had mopped inside the revolving door twice within the preceding half hour. Video evidence showed several people carrying wet umbrellas passing through the revolving door without incident before plaintiff's fall.
Procedural history
Supreme Court, New York County, granted defendants' motion for summary judgment and entered a judgment in defendants' favor on February 21, 2025. Plaintiff appealed the judgment and the underlying January 24, 2025 order. The Appellate Division unanimously affirmed the judgment and dismissed the appeal from the order as subsumed in the judgment appeal.