CASAMASSA v. WALDBAUM INC (2000)

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Doyle, J.), dated November 9, 1999, which granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.

ORDERED that the order is affirmed, with costs.

The plaintiff fell when she caught her foot on the bottom of a rack positioned against a wall adjacent to the cashier's lane as she was exiting the defendant's supermarket.   The plaintiff saw the rack when she first passed through the cashier's lane to re-enter the supermarket and again as she was leaving.   The defendant demonstrated its prima facie entitlement to summary judgment by showing that the rack was readily observable by the reasonable use of one's senses and, therefore, it had no duty to warn the plaintiff of the allegedly dangerous condition (see, Thomas v. Price-Mart Inc., 267 A.D.2d 374, 699 N.Y.S.2d 729;  Wint v. Fulton St. Art Gallery, 263 A.D.2d 541, 694 N.Y.S.2d 97;  O'Connor v. Katonah Museum of Art, 251 A.D.2d 561, 676 N.Y.S.2d 183;  Reuscher v. Pergament Home Ctrs., 247 A.D.2d 603, 669 N.Y.S.2d 232).   In opposition to the motion, the plaintiff failed to raise the existence of a material issue of fact.

MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.