Landlord Not Responsible for Tenant's Slip and Fall

Tenant sued landlord for negligence after she slipped and fell in the building's interior stairway. Tenant claimed that the stairs were wet. Landlord asked the court to dismiss the case without a trial, claiming that it wasn't responsible for tenant's injuries. The court ruled for landlord. Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant presented insufficient proof of any specific dangerous condition that caused her injury. There was no proof of a recurring dangerous condition. Landlord's janitor testified in pretrial questioning that he strictly followed a written cleaning schedule, and would have swept down any debris from the stairwell earlier in the day. The janitor's supervisor also testified that he found no reports of any wet conditions in the stairwells in logbooks kept for three months before the accident.

White v. NYCHA: NYLJ, 10/23/08, p. 34, col. 6 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Mazzarelli, JP, Catterson, McGuire, Acosta, Renwick, JJ)