By Vito A. Cannavo,Esq. Of Sullivan Papain Block McGrath & Cannavo P.C.
When a floor is wet and a visitor slips and falls, the owner of the premises may be liable to the injured party under a theory of negligence. It is well established that owners and lessees have a duty to maintain their property in a reasonably safe condition. In a negligence action, a plaintiff will need to prove that the defendant premises owner created or had actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition that caused the injury. To prevail on a notice theory, the New York Court of Appeals has held that a defect or dangerous condition must be visible and apparent, and must exist for a sufficient length of time prior to the accident to permit the defendant to discovery and remedy it. See Gordon v American Museum of Natural History, 67 N.Y.2d. 836, 837 (1986).
In a recent case, it was determined that evidence that rain had been falling for an hour and a half before plaintiff slipped and fell in a building lobby, and that persons entering a building were carrying, and sometimes closing, umbrellas in view of the doormen for at least 40 minutes, “raises a triable issue whether defendants had actual or constructive notice of a dangerously wet and slippery condition in the lobby of their building.” Spinner v. 1725 York Owners Corp., 2008 NY Slip Op 08983 (1st Dept. November 18, 2008). Thus, the plaintiff was able to defeat the building owner’s motion to dismiss the case and thus will no be able to proceed to trial against the building owner, as there existed evidence that would permit a finder of fact to infer that the defendant had actual or constructive notice of a dangerous condition. In this circumstance the plaintiff was able to show that the owner or its agents should have taken corrective action to prevent people from slipping once they got into the building. In many of New York City’s major buildings one can often see the building maintenance staff putting down mats on rainy days to prevent just what happened in this case-a slip and fall on a wet surface.