Landlord Not Responsible for Tenant's Slip-and-Fall on Vestibule Floor

Tenant sued landlord for negligence. Tenant claimed that he slipped and fell on beer or urine on the vestibule floor on a Sunday morning. After pretrial questioning, landlord asked the court to dismiss the case without trial. The court ruled against landlord. Landlord appealed and won. Landlord's caretaker stated that he inspected the area the previous day, at the end of his shift, and didn't see any liquid on the vestibule floor. Landlord showed that it didn't create any hazardous condition or have notice of it. Tenant submitted a sworn statement from his wife in response to landlord's request to dismiss the case. This could not be considered, because tenant didn't present his wife as a witness for pretrial questioning.

Muniz v. NYCHA: NYLJ, 3/19/07, p. 32, col. 6 (App. Div. 2 Dept.; Crane, JP, Krasuman, Fisher, Dickerson, JJ)