Security Guard Slipped and Fell on Beer Bottle

A security guard sued landlord for negligence after he slipped on a beer bottle and fell down a flight of stairs in landlord's building. Landlord claimed that it wasn't responsible for the security guard's injury because it didn't know the bottle was there. Landlord asked the court to dismiss the case without a trial. The court ruled against landlord. Landlord appealed and lost. The security guard and the company he worked for showed that landlord had been advised several months earlier that the light fixtures in the staircase weren't working. Landlord also knew that the incinerator wasn't working and that for several months tenants had been throwing garbage in the building staircase. So landlord had notice of the general condition. And it didn't matter whether landlord knew that the particular bottle the security guard slipped on was there.

Benn v. Municipal Hous. Auth. for the City of Yonkers: NYLJ, 10/2/00, p. 27, col. 2 (App. Div.2 Dept.; O'Brien, JP, Sullivan, Krausman, Goldstein, Schmidt, JJ)