Notice and causality.

The First Department affirmed Supreme Court's denial of defendant's summary judgment motion, in Ruiz v. 30 Real Estate Corp., which was decided on January 8, 2008. Defendant failed to satisfy its initial burden of making a prima facie case on its argument that the grease and garbage on the staircase in its building was not a proximate cause of plaintiff's fall. In plaintiff's deposition testimony, which defendant offered in support of its motion, plaintiff said that he alerted a member of defendant's staff to the condition of the staircase, and that he slipped on the grease that was still there more than 12 hours later. The court gave short shrift to evidence that plaintiff had been drinking prior to his fall, and also to defendant's argument that, if plaintiff saw that garbage was still on the stairs, he should have taken the elevator.