885 Third Avenue Corp (885 TAC) is the owner of a staircase leading to the Third Avenue and 53rd Street subway station.
While 885 TAC had hired an independent contractor -- Temco -- to clean and maintain the area, for some undisclosed reason, the company's services were limited to six days per week (weekdays and Sundays).
As luck would have it, one Saturday, Irene Tavis was injured on a staircase "littered with debris and trash and wet in certain spots."
While the New York Supreme Court dismissed the case as against 885 TAC, on appeal, the Appellate Division, First Department, reversed. According to the AD1, there were questions whether the conditions had been in existence for a sufficient period of time to afford the owner " constructive notice ." (In other words, the issue of liability for the plaintiff's injuries and damages must now await a formal hearing or trial.)
Will 885 TAC be going up (or down)?
To download a copy of the Appellate Division's decision, please use this link: Tavis v. 885 Third Avenue Corp.