In Phillip v Young Men’s Christian Assn. of Greater N.Y. (a slip-and-fall case), the Appellate Division, First Department recently affirmed the lower court’s grant of defendant’s motion for summary judgment.
“Defendant met its initial burden of demonstrating lack of notice of the wet condition of the locker room floor where plaintiff allegedly slipped by submitting evidence that it followed its routine maintenance and inspection procedures, and that the condition was not observed either by defendant’s staff when they inspected the area, or by plaintiff and her daughter.”
In response, plaintiff failed to raise an issue of fact: “Plaintiff’s and her daughter’s testimony that they had seen water on the floor of the locker room on several other occasions and that the daughter had complained about it demonstrates, at most, that defendant had a general awareness of a wet condition, which is insufficient to raise a triable issue of fact as to notice.”
In addition, plaintiff’s expert affidavit was “conclusory, and failed to cite any accepted industry practice, standard, code or regulation that was violated by defendant.”