FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 21, 2022
Contact: Eric W. Boyer, Esq.
Managing Partner
305.670.1101 Ext. 1023
Email: eboyer@qpwblaw.com
SUMMARY JUDGMENT GRANTED FOR NEW YORK CITY LANDOWNER
Premises Liability
Alexander M. Shindler
KINGS COUNTY, NY ─ Alexander Shindler, an attorney in the New York and New Jersey offices at Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A., received a summary judgment on behalf of his client, a landowner of a large apartment building complex. The plaintiff pursued to recover monetary damages for personal injuries sustained and claimed hazardous conditions caused her to fall and trip while walking across a parquet or wooden floor inside a Brooklyn apartment.
The plaintiff asserted that a substance on the floor consisting of a gooey, waxy, sticky, paste-like substance used to repair the floor was inadequate, dangerous, defective, improperly applied, improper for the flooring and may have caused the floor to expand and become sticky and slippery, that these circumstances created a dangerous, defective, trap-like condition. Plaintiff stated that the substance was so sticky that it stopped her shoe from moving, and that was what caused the fall. The plaintiff alleged the defendant’s negligence was in failing to apply permanent, proper, and safe materials for repairs and instead used temporary floor patching repair materials, creating defects and dangers, and giving rise to plaintiff’s injuries.
Defendant argued that the repair was made four years before the alleged incident and that any excess glue from the repair would have dried. The building superintendent testified he had been the Super for about ten years and indicated that no records were found concerning any complaints about the floor of the apartment; that annual inspections were conducted in each apartment and that the tenant had signed off on the inspection forms for the two years before the plaintiff’s accident, indicating he agreed there were no problems in the apartment. Thus, there was no actual or constructive notice of any hazardous condition and there was no hazardous condition.
For the defendant to be liable in tort to a plaintiff, it must be established that a defective condition existed, and that the defendant landowner or lessee affirmatively created the condition or had actual or constructive notice of its existence. It is adjudged that the plaintiff’s accident was not caused by any defective condition and the premises were maintained in a reasonably safe condition.
Defendant’s motion for summary judgment dismissing plaintiff’s complaint was granted, and the complaint dismissed.
# # #
Alexander Shindler is an associate in the New York and New Jersey offices of Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A. He focuses in the areas of insurance defense litigation, general liability, personal injury defense, wrongful death matters, premises liability, negligent security, police misconduct and claims that arise under the Civil Rights Act Section 1983, as well as other areas. He received his J.D. in 2009 from Pace University School of Law. Mr. Shindler is licensed to practice law in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and District of Columbia (inactive). He is fluent in Russian.
About QPWB
QPWB is the largest minority and woman owned law firm in the nation. Our lawyers provide representation in litigation, business, real estate and governmental law.