Opinion
May 9, 1994
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Orange County (Barone, J.).
Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.
The plaintiffs alleged that, on December 11, 1988, the plaintiff Phyllis Garvin slipped and fell in the defendants' parking lot as a result of the defendants' negligence. In support of their cross motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, the defendants submitted excerpts from the depositions of both plaintiffs, which showed clearly that as of October 16, 1991, neither plaintiff knew what caused Ms. Garvin to fall. Mere speculation as to the cause of a fall, where there can be many causes, is fatal to a cause of action (see, Earle v. Channel Home Ctr., 158 A.D.2d 507). Although the plaintiffs later submitted, in opposition to the cross motion, an affidavit dated January 20, 1992, in which Mr. Garvin claimed to know that ice caused her fall, we find that the plaintiffs have "attempted to avoid the consequences of the earlier admissions by raising a feigned factual issue which is insufficient to defeat the appellant's motion" (Prunty v. Keltie's Bum Steer, 163 A.D.2d 595, 596; see also, Columbus Trust Co. v. Campolo, 110 A.D.2d 616, affd 66 N.Y.2d 701). Sullivan, J.P., Lawrence, Pizzuto, Joy and Goldstein, JJ., concur.