Owner Off Hook for Common Area Slip-and-Fall

Facts: Both a tenant and owner of office space were sued by the widow of a visitor to the building who slipped and fell on a wet surface in the vestibule and died from his injuries. The tenant and owner each asked a trial court for a judgment in its favor without a trial. The trial court dismissed the case. The widow appealed.

Decision: A New York appeals court upheld the decision of the lower court in favor of the owner and tenant.

Reasoning: The appeals court noted that, in a slip-and-fall case, defendants asking for a judgment in their favor without a trial have the burden of demonstrating that they did not create the alleged hazardous condition or have actual or constructive notice of its existence for a sufficient length of time to discover and remedy it.

The owner and the tenant each presented evidence that it hadn’t created the alleged defective condition. The owner also presented evidence that it had neither actual nor constructive notice of the alleged defective condition—that is, the alleged presence of water on the vestibule floor of the building.

Moreover, a property owner isn’t obligated to provide a constant remedy to the problem of water being tracked into a building during inclement weather, and has no obligation to cover all of its floors with mats or to continuously mop up all moisture resulting from tracked-in precipitation. And a tenant ordinarily owes no duty of care with respect to a dangerous condition in a common area of a building, and the tenant’s lease with the owner didn’t require it to take responsibility for that area.

• Paduano v. 686 Forest Ave., LLC, July 2014