Lozano v. Mt. Hope Place Properties, Inc.

141 A.D.3d 455, 34 N.Y.S.3d 893

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: July 14, 2016
• Docket: 819 308544/10
• Status: Published

Opinion

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Kenneth L. Thompson, Jr., J.), entered January 20, 2015, which granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Defendants established entitlement to judgment as a matter of law in this action where plaintiff alleges that he was injured when a portion of the bathroom ceiling in his apartment fell on his head. Defendants demonstrated that they had no notice of the alleged defective condition that caused the ceiling to collapse by submitting the deposition testimony of the building superintendent and plaintiff that there were no prior leaks or water staining present on the bathroom ceiling in the months prior to the accident (see Brown v Howson, 129 AD3d 570 [1st Dept 2015]; Figueroa v Goetz, 5 AD3d 164, 165 [1st Dept 2004]).

In opposition, plaintiff failed to raise an issue of fact. Plaintiff does not contest that the underlying cause of the ceiling collapse was a bathtub overflowing in an apartment located two floors above earlier that day. Plaintiff presents nothing beyond mere speculation to support his assertion that the accident was related to defendants’ prior repairs of the ceiling because there is nothing in the record to suggest that the condition that necessitated the prior repairs may have contributed to the leak (see Figueroa at 165).

We have considered plaintiff’s remaining arguments, and find them unavailing.

Concur — Tom, J.P., Andrias, Manzanet-Daniels, Kapnick and Gesmer, JJ.