GARCIA v. SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH (2024)

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Laura G. Douglas, J.), entered September 11, 2023, which granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Defendants established entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by submitting evidence showing that the sidewalk defect that caused plaintiff to trip and fall had a slight height differential of one-quarter of an inch, which constituted a trivial defect as a matter of law.  The minor height differentiation is insufficient to establish the existence of a dangerous or defective condition for which defendants could be liable (see Martin v. Lafayette Morrison Hous. Corp., 31 A.D.3d 300, 301, 819 N.Y.S.2d 249 [1st Dept. 2006]).  In opposition, plaintiff failed to submit evidence to raise an issue of fact as to whether the defect was not trivial in nature.

We have considered and rejected plaintiff's remaining arguments.