DOE LOSES THE WHOLE BALL OF WAX HERE
After she slipped and fell in the hallway of a Queens elementary school, SC sued the New York City Department of Education (DOE) alleging that wax had been negligently applied to the floor’s surface. And when DOE later moved -- via a summary judgment application -- for pretrial relief in its favor, the Queens County Supreme Court siding with agency and letting it out of the case.
On appeal, the Appellate Division, Second Department, noted that DOE had the burden of “‘showing that it neither created the allegedly hazardous condition nor had actual or constructive notice of its existence for a sufficient length of time to discover and remedy it.’”
And, interestingly, because it didn’t think DOE unequivocally established that it wasn’t responsible for the condition which was alleged to have caused SC’s fall, the AD2 reversed the underlying determination and brought DOE back into the case.
How’s that for a whole new ball of wax?
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DECISION