Opinion
13064 Index No. 159763/17 Case No. 2020-00854
02-09-2021
Nancy TSOTAKOS, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. TSE GROUP, LLC, etc., et al., Defendants–Appellants.
Segal McCambridge Singer & Mahoney, Ltd., New York ( Carla Varriale of counsel), for appellants. Roura & Melamed, New York ( Alexander J. Wulwick of counsel), for respondent.
Segal McCambridge Singer & Mahoney, Ltd., New York ( Carla Varriale of counsel), for appellants.
Roura & Melamed, New York ( Alexander J. Wulwick of counsel), for respondent.
Renwick, J.P., Kern, Mazzarelli, Oing, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Lynn R. Kotler, J.), entered January 10, 2020, which denied defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Summary judgment was properly denied in this action where plaintiff was injured when she fell on an interior staircase in defendant's premises, since defendant failed to show that it lacked constructive notice of the defect on the step. Its manager testified that the photographs taken about a month after the accident accurately represented the condition on the steps before and on the day of the accident, and that they showed a "bunched up" and "lifted" condition at the edge of the step. Accordingly, a jury could reasonably conclude that the condition existed for a sufficient period of time for defendant to have discovered and remedied it, and that the condition was not trivial ( see Latif v. Eugene Smilovic Hous. Dev. Fund Co., Inc., 147 A.D.3d 507, 47 N.Y.S.3d 33 [1st Dept. 2017] ; Tomaino v. 209 E. 84th St. Corp., 72 A.D.3d 460, 460–461, 900 N.Y.S.2d 245 [1st Dept. 2010] ).