(914) 220-1086In a recent Westchester County, NY personal injury, slip and fall lawsuit, the plaintiff nurse claimed that she had slipped on urine while assisting a handicapped teenager who attended school at the defendant Pines Bridge Program. The school was owned and operated by defendants, Putnam / Northern Westchester Board of Coop. Services, and the plaintiff was employed as a private nurse for the teenager.
The Trial Court awarded summary judgment to the defendants, and, on plaintiff’s appeal, the New York State Appellate DIvision, Second Department reversed. The Appellate Court found that a “defendant moving for summary judgment in a slip and fall case has the burden of establishing, prima facie, that it neither created the alleged hazardous condition nor had actual or constructive notice of its existence.”
According to the appellate decision, the defendants, in their motion for Summary Judgment, offered admissible evidence of general cleaning practices. However, the defendants failed to provide any evidence of specific cleaning or inspection on the day of plaintiff’s fall, and thus failed to establish their entitlement to summary judgment.
