Tenant Struck on Head by Garage Door

Tenant sued landlord for negligence. As she was walking out of the building, she was struck on the head by an overhead garage door. Landlord asked the court to dismiss the case without a trial, claiming that there was no notice of any defect. The court ruled against landlord. Landlord appealed and lost. The facts showed that there was a question as to whether landlord had notice of a hazardous condition. The building super had inspected the door about a month before the accident and found no problems. He did say that the door had partly detached from its track on one side. He also said he regularly applied grease to the guide rollers and track. An employee of the garage door installer testified that grease was the worst possible thing to put on an overhead garage door because it would cause the rollers to slide in the track, rather than roll. The tenants' association president stated that he had notified landlord about tenant complaints concerning the door. Tenant's engineer stated that, in his opinion, the door was improperly installed and maintained and that using grease on it was improper.

Mitchell v. Argus Realty Co.: NYLJ, 6/3/04, p. 26, col. 2 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Tom, JP, Saxe, Ellerin, Lerner, JJ)