In Brothers. v. 574 9th Ave. Rest. Corp., No. 1458, 2016 WL 3341787 (N.Y. App. Div. 1st Dept. June 16, 2016), a slip-and-fall case, the court affirmed the denial of defendants’ motion for summary judgment.
From the decision:
The testimony of defendant bar proprietor that he personally inspected the bathrooms and areas outside the bathrooms, just 20 to 30 minutes prior to plaintiff Annette Brothers’ slip and fall outside the women’s bathroom, and that he found the floor to be clean, dry and free of debris, established prima facie that defendants lacked actual or constructive notice of the alleged watery, debris-strewn condition on which Brothers fell.
In opposition, plaintiffs submitted deposition testimony of themselves and several other witnesses, to the effect that there was an appreciable amount of dirty water from the women’s room, together with a significant amount of debris from such bathroom, tracked over a large area just outside the women’s bathroom. Such evidence raised triable issues as to whether the alleged hazardous condition existed for a sufficient length of time for the bar’s multiple employees to have a reasonable opportunity to discover it and remedy it. It is further noted that the video footage from the bar’s surveillance camera does not afford definitive resolution of the condition of the floor.