Landlord Responsible for Tenant's Slip and Fall on Wet Stairway

Tenant sued landlord after he slipped and fell on a wet substance he claimed was urine on the apartment building's stairway. Landlord asked the court to dismiss the case without a trial, claiming that it didn't create or have notice of the hazard. Landlord's building super testified in pretrial questioning that he followed a daily cleaning schedule for the staircase, but there was no proof submitted that the schedule was followed on the date of the accident. Landlord also made no showing as to when the stairway was last inspected before the accident. So there was a question as to whether landlord had constructive notice of the claimed hazard. Two of the court's five ruling judges disagreed with the decision, finding that landlord proved it neither created nor had notice of the claimed condition. The super testified that he swept every morning and mopped three times a week at about 7 a.m. in accordance with a regular maintenance schedule, and that there were never any prior accidents on the steps. 

Gautier v. 941 Intervale Realty LLC: 2013 NY Slip Op 05432, 2013 WL 3793890 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 7/23/13; Andrias, JP [dissenting], Saxe [dissenting], DeGrasse, Feinman, Clark, JJ)