Plaintiff allegedly slipped and fell on a ramp at Shea Stadium. After plaintiff fell, he saw a reddish streak on the ramp and a ketchup-like substance on his shoes. Plaintiff's wife alleged that, about an hour before the accident, she saw a messy white condition consisting of a portion of a crushed hotdog bun, ketchup, and mustard on the ramp, as well as a hotdog, a hotdog bun, and two napkins. Plaintiff's wife did not witness the accident, but she alleged that plaintiff must have slipped on the remnants of the mess that she had seen.

Seeking damages for his alleged injuries, plaintiff commenced this action against, among others, the City of New York, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, the New York Mets National League Baseball Club, Sterling Enterprises, which leased the premises from the City, and Harvard Maintenance, which had a cleaning management contract at the stadium.

The Second Department dismissed the complaint, in Frazier v. City of New York, which was decided on January 22, 2008. Defendants met their initial burden by submitting evidence to establish, prima facie, that they neither created nor had actual or constructive notice of the alleged defect for a sufficient length of time to discover and remedy it. In opposition, plaintiff failed to submit evidence sufficient to raise a triable issue of fact. The court rejected plaintiff's contention that the defect which had caused him to fall was the remnant of the mess that his wife had seen an hour before his accident as purely speculative.