Opinion
13874 Index Nos. 152586/17, 595881/17 Case No. 2020-04410
05-20-2021
Angela ALMONTE, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. EDGECOMBE PROPERTIES LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, et al., Defendants–Respondents, 535 Phase Construction, Inc., Defendant–Appellant. Edgecombe Properties Limited Liability Company, et al., Third–Party Plaintiffs–Respondents, v. 535 Phase Construction, Inc., Third–Party Defendant–Appellant.
Farber Brocks & Zane L.L.P., Garden City (Lester Chanin of counsel), for appellant. Trolman Glaser Corley & Lichtman, P.C., New York (Morgan A. Corley of counsel), for Angela Almonte, respondent.
Farber Brocks & Zane L.L.P., Garden City (Lester Chanin of counsel), for appellant.
Trolman Glaser Corley & Lichtman, P.C., New York (Morgan A. Corley of counsel), for Angela Almonte, respondent.
Acosta, P.J., Webber, Kennedy, Shulman, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Francis A. Kahn, III, J.), entered October 6, 2020, which, to the extent appealed from, denied 535 Phase Construction Inc.'s motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint as against it, and denied in part its motion for summary dismissal of the third-party complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
The motion court properly denied summary judgment to 535 Phase Construction Inc. (Phase) because plaintiff adduced sufficient evidence to raise issues of fact as to whether sawdust caused her slip-and-fall accident (see Healy v. ARP Cable, Inc., 299 A.D.2d 152, 154–155, 753 N.Y.S.2d 38 [1st Dept. 2002] ; see e.g. Rodriguez v. Leggett Holdings, LLC, 96 A.D.3d 555, 556, 947 N.Y.S.2d 429 [1st Dept. 2012] ; Babich v. R.G.T. Rest. Corp., 75 A.D.3d 439, 906 N.Y.S.2d 528 [1st Dept. 2010] ) and whether Phase launched an instrument of harm when it created that sawdust (see generally Espinal v. Melville Snow Contrs., Inc., 98 N.Y.2d 136, 746 N.Y.S.2d 120, 773 N.E.2d 485 [2002] ). We reject Phase's contentions, which largely amount to issues of credibility that are not properly before the court on a motion for summary judgment (see Ferrante v. American Lung Assn., 90 N.Y.2d 623, 631, 665 N.Y.S.2d 25, 687 N.E.2d 1308 [1997] ).