Trial Needed on Slip-and-Fall Claim

A visitor sued landlord NYCHA for negligence after she slipped and fell in landlord’s building. The court dismissed the case because the visitor filed a late notice of claim. The visitor appealed, and the case was reopened. Landlord’s employee witnessed the visitor’s fall, helped her get up from the ground, and gave her the management office telephone number. The employee also admitted to the visitor that the floor was wet because it was being prepared for waxing. The visitor claimed that her notice of claim was filed late because she didn’t know landlord owned the building. This wasn’t a reasonable excuse, but since landlord’s employee saw the accident and landlord can’t show it was harmed by the delay, she should be allowed to go forward with the case. Landlord claimed that it had no knowledge of the accident since its employee filed no accident report. But this didn’t matter. Even though the employee had no reason to believe that the visitor had been injured, landlord had knowledge of the basic facts underlying tenant’s claim

.

Renelique v. NYCHA: NYLJ, 4/29/10, p. 34, col. 5 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Tom, JP, Mazzarelli, Andrias, Saxe, DeGrasse, JJ)