Plaintiff-tenant slipped and fell on debris in her building's stairwell. She testified that accumulated litter was an everyday problem in this particular stairwell because tenants used it to take their garbage bags downstairs for disposal. She said that nothing had been done to remedy this condition, even after she complained about it to the building superintendent, Rego.

Plaintiff's daughter, who also lived in the building, attested to the condition in a nonparty deposition. Another nonparty witness in the building also testified that he saw garbage on the stairways, and that the building was rarely cleaned.

Arguing that it had neither actual nor constructive notice of the condition, the landlord offered deposition testimony of one of the building's owners, indicating that he inspected the interior stairwells once a week, and denied knowledge of anyone named Rego.

The First Department denied the landlord's motion to dismiss, in Bido v. 876-882 Realty, which was decided on June 26, 2007. The court found that plaintiff's and nonparty deposition testimony had raised issues of fact as to whether the accumulation of refuse in this stairwell was a dangerous and recurring condition which caused plaintiff's injury. Importantly, the court noted that plaintiff did not have to prove that the landlord knew or should have known of the exact item of debris which caused her fall.