From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Lauzon v. Stop & Shop Supermarket

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department
Nov 12, 2020
188 A.D.3d 856 (N.Y. App. Div. 2020)

Opinion

2017–08248 Index No. 60984/15

11-12-2020

Katherine LAUZON, appellant, v. STOP & SHOP SUPERMARKET, et al., respondents.

The Law Office of Richard R. Mogg, P.C. (Eileen Kaplan, Somers, NY, of counsel), for appellant. Ahmuty, Demers & McManus (Cullen & Dykman, LLP, Garden City, N.Y. [Nicholas M. Cardascia ], of counsel), for respondents.


The Law Office of Richard R. Mogg, P.C. (Eileen Kaplan, Somers, NY, of counsel), for appellant.

Ahmuty, Demers & McManus (Cullen & Dykman, LLP, Garden City, N.Y. [Nicholas M. Cardascia ], of counsel), for respondents.

REINALDO E. RIVERA, J.P., CHERYL E. CHAMBERS, JEFFREY A. COHEN, SYLVIA O. HINDS–RADIX, JJ.

DECISION & ORDER In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Westchester County (David F. Everett, J.), dated June 23, 2017. The order granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. ORDERED that the order is reversed, on the law, with costs, and the defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint is denied.

On February 23, 2015, the plaintiff allegedly slipped and fell on a wet condition in the produce aisle of the defendants' supermarket. The plaintiff subsequently commenced this action against the defendants to recover damages for personal injuries, alleging, inter alia, negligent maintenance of the supermarket. The defendants moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. In an order dated June 23, 2017, the Supreme Court granted the defendants' motion, and the plaintiff appeals.

A defendant moving for summary judgment in a slip-and-fall case has the initial burden of establishing that it neither created the hazardous condition that allegedly caused the fall, nor had actual or constructive notice of that condition for a sufficient length of time to discover and remedy it (see Rivera v. Waterview Towers, Inc., 181 A.D.3d 844, 845, 121 N.Y.S.3d 140 ; Yarosh v. Oceana Holding Corp., 172 A.D.3d 1142, 1143, 101 N.Y.S.3d 72 ). A defendant moving for summary judgment dismissing a complaint cannot satisfy its initial burden merely by pointing to gaps in the plaintiff's case (see Seedat v. Capital One Bank, 170 A.D.3d 769, 769, 93 N.Y.S.3d 581 ; Ariza v. Number One Star Mgt. Corp., 170 A.D.3d 639, 639, 93 N.Y.S.3d 603 ).

Here, the defendants failed to establish, prima facie, that they did not create the allegedly dangerous condition that caused the plaintiff's accident (see Paar v. Sky Foods Mkt., Inc., 172 A.D.3d 1082, 1082, 101 N.Y.S.3d 79 ; Marino v. Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., 21 A.D.3d 531, 532, 800 N.Y.S.2d 591 ). The defendants' submissions in support of their motion failed to affirmatively demonstrate that the wet condition on the floor was not created by water and melted ice leaking from an asparagus display, which was adjacent to the location of the plaintiff's fall. Since the defendants failed to make a prima facie showing that they did not create the condition complained of, their motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint should have been denied, regardless of the sufficiency of the plaintiff's opposition papers (see Winegrad v. New York Univ. Med. Ctr., 64 N.Y.2d 851, 853, 487 N.Y.S.2d 316, 476 N.E.2d 642 ). The plaintiff's remaining contentions are without merit.

RIVERA, J.P., CHAMBERS, COHEN and HINDS–RADIX, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Lauzon v. Stop & Shop Supermarket

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department
Nov 12, 2020
188 A.D.3d 856 (N.Y. App. Div. 2020)
Case details for

Lauzon v. Stop & Shop Supermarket

Case Details

Full title:Katherine Lauzon, appellant, v. Stop & Shop Supermarket, et al.…

Court:SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department

Date published: Nov 12, 2020

Citations

188 A.D.3d 856 (N.Y. App. Div. 2020)
135 N.Y.S.3d 424
2020 N.Y. Slip Op. 6513

Citing Cases

Noxon v. Buonadonna Shop Rite, LLC

The owner or possessor of real property has a duty to maintain the property in a reasonably safe condition so…

Mirco v. Tops MARKETS, LLC

In support of their motion, defendants submitted the deposition testimony of a former supermarket employee,…