Landlord Responsible for Tenant's Slip and Fall on Wet Staircase

Tenant sued landlord for negligence and sought damages for personal injuries she claimed she suffered after slipping and falling while walking down an interior staircase in her apartment building. Tenant claimed that, when she looked up at the stairway after falling, she could see that the entire flight of steps was wet and looked like it had just been mopped. She also saw the building super at the top of the stairs, looking down at her. Tenant claimed that the super created a dangerous and hazardous condition, for which no warning signs were posted.

Tenant asked the court to rule in her favor without trial. She submitted a deposition transcript of a neighbor who responded to tenant's accident immediately when tenant's son told her there was an emergency. The neighbor saw that the stairway was wet and took the elevator up to tenant's apartment. The neighbor also testified that there were no warning signs about the wet floor.

Landlord testified in pretrial questioning that the super was instructed to place warning signs at the building when mopping the floors and landlord's attorney submitted this statement. But landlord's statement was insufficient to rebut the testimony of tenant and the neighbor. There was no issue of fact presented, and the court ruled that landlord was responsible for tenant's injury. 

Chavez v. Prana Holding Co. LLC: 69 Misc.3d 1203(A), 2020 NY Slip Op 51175(U) (Sup. Ct. Bronx; 10/7/20; Armstrong, J)