MMP&S successfully obtained a defense verdict following a 4 week jury trial in Supreme Court, Kings County.
Our client, the Defendants, were the owners and property managers of a cooperative apartment building. The Plaintiff, a package delivery person, claimed that he sustained severe and permanent personal injuries while descending an interior stairway in our client’s building. The Plaintiff claimed that the building and property manager were negligent in the ownership, operation, maintenance and repair of the subject staircase where Plaintiff fell. More specifically, the Plaintiff claimed that the building’s staircase was painted improperly creating a slippery and dangerous condition that caused Plaintiff to fall. Our clients submitted evidence at trial that the subject staircase was painted with non-skid paint five years prior to the Plaintiff’s accident and that the building never received any notice of any dangerous condition on the stairs nor did the Defendants receive any complaints of anyone falling on the stairs prior to the Plaintiff’s accident. Our client also contended that it was the Plaintiff’s inattentiveness descending the staircase, his failure to use the handrails available to him, and that he descended the stairs too quickly that caused and/or contributed to him falling. Defendants also argued that the Plaintiff’s assertion that the stairs were shiny and looked slippery were based on speculation.
The jury rendered a unanimous defense verdict that our clients were not negligent for Plaintiff’s accident and the Court dismissed the Verified Complaint against them.