New Trial Needed on Tenant's Slip-and-Fall Injury
LVT Number: #31153
Tenant sued the City of New York and landlord Allen Affordable HDFC for damages resulting from personal injuries. Tenant slipped and fell on the wet interior stairs of the three-story apartment building. At the time of the accident, which occurred at 10 p.m., the building had been without running water for at least two days, as a result of a broken pipe in the basement. Tenant presented evidence at trial that the building super had opened the fire hydrant outside the building to supply tenants with water. Tenant testified that the super also placed a garbage can filled with water near the door of the building, although landlord testified that tenant had placed it there. Landlord admitted it knew that tenants had been carrying open buckets filled with water from these sources to their apartments and spilling water on the interior stairs. The super had been directed to keep the stairs dry.
After trial, the jury found that landlord wasn't negligent. Although the jury found that there was water on the stairs when tenant fell, that this was an unsafe condition, and that landlord either knew or should have known of the existence of the unsafe condition, it also found that landlord didn't have sufficient notice of the unsafe condition before the accident to correct it or take other suitable precautions. The court then denied tenant's request to set aside the jury verdict and hold a new trial or, alternatively, issue a judgment for tenant as a matter of law.
Tenant appealed and the appeals court ordered a new trial. Tenant wasn't entitled to a judgment as a matter of law since a rational fact finder could conclude that tenant's injuries weren't caused by landlord's negligence. But there were questions concerning who was responsible for the accident and landlord's creation of the hazardous condition that the trial court had improperly handled. So a new trial was needed.
Alonzo v. City of New York: Index No. 2019-06181, 2020 NY Slip Op 07019 (App. Div. 2 Dept.; 11/25/20; Dillon, JP, Roman, Duffy, Barros, JJ)