Landlord Not Responsible for Tenant's Slip and Fall

Tenant sued landlord NYCHA for negligence, after he slipped and fell on a wet staircase in his apartment building. After pretrial questioning, landlord asked the court to dismiss the case without a trial. The court ruled against landlord. Landlord appealed and won. During questioning, tenant said that his foot slipped on something wet. He stated that the water on the step was the only thing that caused him to slip and that there was no other condition. Only after landlord asked the court to dismiss the case did tenant claim for the first time that his accident was caused by a defective, broken stair. Landlord proved that it had no notice of a wet condition in the staircase, so there was no question of fact. The lower court should have dismissed the case. Tenant obviously changed his statement only after it became apparent that the case could be dismissed based on his own statement of the facts.

Nicholas v. NYCHA: NYLJ, 9/17/09, p. 35, col. 4 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Mazzarelli, JP, Andrias, Nardelli, DeGrasse, Abdus-Salaam, JJ)