Gounarides v. Yankee Stadium Corp.

136 A.D.3d 440, 23 N.Y.S.3d 888

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: February 4, 2016
• Docket: 135 301476/11
• Status: Published

Opinion

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Alison Y. Tuitt, J.), entered September 18, 2014, which granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Summary judgment was properly granted in this action where plaintiff Deborah Gounarides, an employee of nonparty Legends Hospitality LLC (Legends), fell in the Legends Club located within Yankee Stadium. At the time of her accident, the club was open, but since it was several hours before a scheduled game, the lights were off. There is no evidence in the record that defendants owned, operated, occupied, managed or controlled the area, including any responsibility for turning on the lights (see Grullon v City of New York, 297 AD2d 261 [1st Dept 2002]). That was the sole responsibility of Legends, the exclusive licensee of the area (see Peck v 2-J, LLC, 56 AD3d 277 [1st Dept 2008]).

We have considered plaintiffs’ remaining arguments and find them unavailing.

Concur — Tom, J.P., Friedman, Sweeny, Acosta and Andrias, JJ.