Opinion
March 20, 1952.
Appeal from Court of Claims.
Claimant attended an educational moving picture at Page Hall, one of the buildings of the New York State College for Teachers in Albany. As she left the building, and was descending the outside stairway, she fell and was injured. There is proof that the stairway was not lighted, but no defect in the stairway itself was claimed or proven. The court below could find from the testimony that claimant, herself, was not guilty of contributory negligence, but we think that in the absence of a statutory requirement or some unusual hazard not shown, that no duty rested on the State to illuminate the stairway at the time and place of the accident. ( Owen v. Westchester Country Club, 289 N.Y. 819; McCabe v. Mackay, 253 N.Y. 440; Duncan v. State of New York, 279 App. Div. 970.) Judgment reversed and claim dismissed, without costs, as a matter of law. This court disapproves findings numbers 23, 24 and 26, and the conclusion of law, as contained in the decision below, otherwise the findings are approved. Settle decision on five days' notice before any Justice of this court. Foster, P.J., Brewster, Bergan and Coon, JJ., concur; Heffernan, J., dissents and votes to affirm the judgment on the ground that the issue of the State's negligence and the claimant's contributory negligence are questions of fact. [ 199 Misc. 876.]