Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani Westchester Senior Counsel Tristan Smith, with the assistance of Associate Alanna Mecca, was granted summary judgment dismissal of a plaintiff’s complaint in a premises liability action filed against the firm’s client, a major New York energy company, in Bronx County Supreme Court.
The plaintiff, a cleaner working for a company contracted by the firm’s client, alleged that after coming to work and going to a restroom to clean it, she saw water on the floor. She left the restroom to obtain bathroom supplies. Upon returning, she allegedly slipped and fell on the water.
As a result of the accident, the plaintiff alleged a wrist fracture which resulted in open reduction and internal fixation surgery. The plaintiff brought suit against the firm’s client, the tenant of the premises. The plaintiff alleged the firm’s client had constructive notice of the condition and failed to mitigate it.
Smith and Mecca successfully argued that the firm’s client fulfilled their duty to maintain the premises by contracting with the cleaning company that employed the plaintiff to ensure the premises remained clean. Smith and Mecca pointed to the plaintiff’s own affidavit and testimony wherein the plaintiff admitted it was their duty to clean the offices and bathrooms, including mopping the premises. Therefore, the firm's client could not have ensured the plaintiff a safe workplace free from the defect her own employer was responsible for addressing.
The court agreed with the GRSM Westchester team’s arguments and granted the firm’s motion for summary judgment, dismissing the action in its entirety.