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RKT Wins Summary Judgment On Appeal
In Slip And Fall Case
RKT attorneys Thomas Keane, Fern Flomenhaft and John Komar won summary judgment and dismissal of plaintiff’s Complaint in the Appellate Division, Second Department in the case of Plowden v. Stevens Partners, LLC, 2007 NY Slip Op 09010.
The plaintiff, a 44 year old postal worker, claimed she was injured when she slipped and fell on an interior staircase while delivering mail in our client’s building. The plaintiff admitted at her deposition that she did not know what caused her to slip. We filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds that plaintiff could not identify any defects which caused her to fall. The lower court denied our motion based on the opposing affidavit of plaintiff’s engineer who alleged that plaintiff fell because the staircase had no handrails in violation of the Building Code and since the treads on the stairs became slippery over time. We appealed to the Appellate Division, Second Department from the lower court’s denial of our motion.
In its Decision and Order handed down, the Appellate Division reversed the lower court and granted our motion for summary judgment. The court held that even assuming the Building Code was violated, the plaintiff failed to submit any evidence linking the alleged defects to her fall. The court noted that plaintiff did not testify that she ever reached for a handrail or that a slippery condition of the steps caused her to fall. The court found it would be sheer speculation for a jury to conclude that the plaintiff fell due to the alleged defects rather than a misstep or loss of balance and dismissed the case accordingly.
The dismissal of this case was significant since plaintiff alleged serious back injuries including two lumbar disc herniations requiring spinal surgery which left her disabled from the Postal Service. Plaintiff’s settlement demand was 2.2 million dollars before the Appellate Division dismissed the case against our client.
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