Did Improperly Installed Window Guard Cause Child's Fall?

Tenant sued landlord after her child fell from the seventh-floor double-hung bedroom window in tenant's apartment. Tenant claimed that landlord and its employees caused or created an unsafe condition by installing a window guard improperly before the accident. The court denied landlord's request to dismiss the case without trial.

Landlord appealed and lost. In pre-trial questioning, landlord's maintenance worker testified that he saw that the glass in one of the windows in tenant's bedroom was cracked and required repair, and that he told tenant how to arrange for the repair. But landlord hadn't proven that the cracked window was the window in question or that the subject window was in a reasonably safe condition before the accident. The maintenance worker also testified that a properly installed window guard will prevent a top window from sliding down. And it was undisputed that the window guard was improperly installed on the day of the accident. 

D.A. v. NYCHA: App. No. 12800, Case No. 2019-03330, 2021 NY Slip Op 00079 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 1/7/21; Manzanet-Daniels, JP, Kapnick, Moulton, Gonzalez, Scarpulla, JJ)