GERANIMO v. Adam Realty Holdings Corp., Defendant. (2023)

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Paul L. Alpert, J.), entered November 17, 2022, which denied defendant Hanoz Realty Ltd.’s motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff slipped and fell on an interior staircase of the subject building while descending the stairs from the second floor to the first floor after making a food delivery.  Defendant failed to establish prima facie that there are no triable issues of fact regarding whether it created or had actual or constructive notice of the wet condition on the staircase which caused plaintiff to slip due to tracked-in snow-or water (see Braendgaard v. KSSNY Inc., 198 A.D.3d 508, 508, 152 N.Y.S.3d 800 [1st Dept. 2021];  see generally Ross v. Betty G. Reader Revocable Trust, 86 A.D.3d 419, 420–421, 927 N.Y.S.2d 49 [1st Dept. 2011]).  The live-in superintendent testified that when it snowed, he cleaned the snow from in front of the building by putting it into mounds or piles adjacent to the courtyard walkway and the building.  According to another resident in the building, the cause of the water on the steps was clearly from people tracking in melted snow from the outside, which had been an ongoing problem since the superintendent piled snow next to the walkway.  Defendant also did not offer any specific evidence showing that cleaning routines were followed on the day of the accident to prevent the accumulation of tracked-in water on the stairs (see Bonilla v. 191 Realty Assoc., L.P., 125 A.D.3d 470, 3 N.Y.S.3d 349 [1st Dept. 2015];  Quintana v. TCR, Tennis Club of Riverdale, Inc., 118 A.D.3d 455, 456, 987 N.Y.S.2d 68 [1st Dept. 2014]).

We have considered defendant's remaining arguments and find them unavailing.