COPPOLA v. Lackmann Food Service, Third-Party Defendant-Appellant. (2001)

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the third-party defendant appeals from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (McCarty, J.), dated March 23, 2001, as denied those branches of its motion for summary judgment which were to dismiss the second and third causes of action of the third-party complaint.

ORDERED that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.

The plaintiff, an employee of the third-party defendant, allegedly slipped and fell on a puddle of water on a kitchen floor in the defendant's campus while acting within the scope of her employment.   At the time of the accident, the defendant and the third-party defendant were parties to a contract under which the third-party defendant provided food service on the defendant's campus.   We agree with the Supreme Court that there is a question of fact as to whether the third-party defendant exercised reasonable care in its operations under the contract.   Thus, summary judgment dismissing the third-party causes of action for contractual indemnification/contribution and breach of contract was correctly denied.