Practice point: Plaintiff alleged in her bill of particulars, and testified at her
deposition, that she was injured when she slipped on an oily substance on
the floor of defendant's grocery store. Defendant established prima
facie its lack of constructive notice of the alleged dangerous condition
with its porter's affidavit stating that he inspected the accident site
a half hour prior to plaintiff's fall and that there were no slipping
hazards present, together with its manager's deposition testimony regarding cleaning and mopping routines. Plaintiff did not contest
defendant's evidence that it inspected for slipping hazards on the
premises one-half hour before the accident but did not find any, and so she
failed to raise a triable issue of fact
Student note: Contrary to defendant's contention, plaintiff's supplemental bill
of particulars and affidavit in opposition to the summary judgment
motion did not raise a new theory of liability concerning the condition
of the floor, but merely expanded on the original theory that
plaintiff slipped on a foreign substance by alleging that "areas of
missing or broken tiles allowed foreign substances to accumulate and
remain on the floor."
Case: Goodwin v. Western Beef Retail, Inc., NY Slip Op 03588 (1st Dept. 2014)
Here is the decision.
Tuesday's issue: Summary judgment in a dog bite case.
