The First Department affirmed the denial of defendant's summary judgment motion, in Moore v. 793-797 Garden St. Housing Development Corp., which was decided on December 20, 2007.

Plaintiff alleges that, while she was walking down a marble staircase, one of the stairs moved from its base and she fell. Defendant failed to satisfy its initial burden of establishing a lack of notice as a matter of law since its witness had no personal knowledge of the condition of the allegedly defective step. In addition, defendant offered no evidence from its employees who were regularly at the property and dealt with tenant complaints, and who could have testified regarding the lack of complaints about the staircase or when it was last inspected or repaired. Furthermore, the record included plaintiff's testimony that (1) she had complained to the superintendent that the steps were uneven and had broken chips, and (2) steps in the vicinity of the accident had been patched and grouted and were the subject of violations issued by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. All of this raised a triable issue as to whether defendant had notice of the allegedly hazardous condition.