Parslow v. Leake

117 A.D.3d 55, 984 N.Y.S.2d 493

This text of 117 A.D.3d 55 (Parslow v. Leake) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Parslow v. Leake, 117 A.D.3d 55, 984 N.Y.S.2d 493 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

ScUDDER, EJ.

Plaintiffs commenced this action seeking damages for injuries that Bryan Parslow (plaintiff) sustained when he fell out of a second-story bathroom window while attending a party at “the Roxbury,” a residence owned and managed by defendant Mr. G. Rentals, LLC, which in turn is owned solely by defendant Norman C. Giancursio. All of the defendants-respondents-appellants except Jonathan M. Henty (resident defendants) rented individual rooms inside the Roxbury and, pursuant to their leases, were authorized to use and were required to clean the common areas, kitchens and bathrooms inside the residence. The resident defendants, Henty and others held themselves out as the Delta Iota chapter of a fraternity known as Sigma Alpha Mu, but it is undisputed that defendant Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity, Inc. (National), terminated its relationship with the Delta Iota chapter in 2005.

As relevant on the appeal and cross appeals, the resident defendants, and defendants Daniel C. Diaz and William K. Genewick, individually moved or cross-moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint against them, and the National cross-moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint against it. Supreme Court granted the motion of the National in its entirety and dismissed the complaint against it. The court also dismissed the 8th, 11th, and 12th causes of action. The court dismissed the third cause of action, for premises liability, insofar as it was asserted against resident defendants Steven B. Leake, Karl Smith, Corey Wilson, Kenneth M. Koperda, Theodore L. Bilohlavek and Nathan E Zilak. The court denied the motions and cross motions of the remaining resident defendants, as well as the motion of Diaz, insofar as each sought dismissal of the third cause of action against them. The court dismissed [60]*60the fourth cause of action, for negligent supervision, insofar as it was asserted against defendants Philip J. Schneider, Jr. and Genewick, but denied those parts of the motions and cross motions of the resident defendants and Diaz insofar as they sought summary judgment dismissing that cause of action against them. The court dismissed the fifth cause of action, alleging violations of General Obligations Law § 11-100 and Alcoholic Beverage Control Law § 65, insofar as it was asserted against Schneider. With respect to Genewick, Diaz and the resident defendants, the court granted their motions and cross motions seeking dismissal of that cause of action but only insofar as it was asserted by plaintiff. The court denied the motions and cross motions on the fifth cause of action insofar as they related “to the claims of Beth Parslow.”

On this appeal and these cross appeals, we address the court’s determinations with respect to the third, fourth, fifth and eighth causes of action as well as the court’s dismissal of the entire complaint against the National. We note that, following submission of their appellate brief, plaintiffs withdrew their appeal insofar as it concerns Schneider and Henty, and Henty withdrew his cross appeal against plaintiffs.

II

We agree with plaintiffs that the court erred in dismissing the third cause of action against Leake, Smith, Wilson, Koperda, Bilohlavek and Zilak, and we reject the contentions of Schlobohm, Wolcott, Leonello, Hooks, Morgan, and Barry that the court erred in refusing to dismiss that cause of action against them. The third cause of action alleges that the resident defendants were responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the Roxbury and that they failed in their duty to keep the property in a safe and proper condition. It is well settled that “ ‘[Liability for a dangerous condition on property is predicated upon occupancy, ownership, control or a special use of [the] premises’ ” (Clifford v Woodlawn Volunteer Fire Co., Inc., 31 AD3d 1102, 1103 [2006]; see Knight v Realty USA.COM, Inc., 96 AD3d 1443, 1444 [2012]). Thus, a tenant, i.e., one who both occupies and controls the property, “has a comm on-law duty to keep the premises it occupies in a reasonably safe condition, even when the landlord has explicitly agreed in the lease to maintain the premises” (Reimold v Walden Terrace, Inc., 85 AD3d 1144, 1145 [2011]; see Milewski v Washington Mut., Inc., 88 AD3d 853, 854-855 [2011]).

[61]*61With respect to the resident defendants, we agree with plaintiffs that they are not entitled to summary judgment dismissing the third cause of action against them. Preliminarily, we reject the contentions of some of the resident defendants that they are entitled to dismissal of the third cause of action against them because plaintiff is unable to identify what may have caused him to fall from the window “without engaging in speculation” (Lane v Texas Roadhouse Holdings, LLC, 96 AD3d 1364, 1364 [2012] [internal quotation marks omitted]).

“It is well established . . . that [a] moving party must affirmatively [demonstrate] the merits of its cause of action or defense and does not meet its burden by noting gaps in its opponent’s proof . . . Although [m]ere conclusions based upon surmise, conjecture, speculation or assertions are without probative value . . . , a case of negligence based wholly on circumstantial evidence may be established if the plaintiffs show[ ] facts and conditions from which the negligence of the defendant and the causation of the accident by that negligence may be reasonably inferred” (id. at 1364-1365 [internal quotation marks omitted]; see Rothbard v Colgate Univ., 235 AD2d 675, 678 [1997]).

Here, although plaintiff was unable to recall the circumstances of his fall from the second-story window, the resident defendants submitted evidence from which negligence and causation may be reasonably inferred (see Lane, 96 AD3d at 1364-1365; Rothbard, 235 AD2d at 678; cf. Smart v Zambito, 85 AD3d 1721, 1721-1722 [2011]). We thus conclude that the burden never shifted to plaintiffs to raise a triable issue of fact (see generally Alvarez v Prospect Hosp., 68 NY2d 320, 324 [1986]).

As tenants of the Roxbury, the resident defendants both occupied and controlled the premises and thus “owe[d] a duty of reasonable care to maintain [the] property in a safe condition and to give warning of unsafe conditions that are not open and obvious” (Barry v Gorecki, 38 AD3d 1213, 1216 [2007]; see Duelos v County of Monroe, 258 AD2d 925, 926 [1999]; see also Milewski, 88 AD3d at 854-855; Reimold, 85 AD3d at 1145; see generally Basso v Miller, 40 NY2d 233, 240-241 [1976]). Although the resident defendants rented individual rooms inside the residence, they each exercised control over the bathrooms inside the Roxbury and were required, pursuant to the terms of [62]*62their leases, to clean those bathrooms (cf. Rothstein v 400 E. 54th St. Co., 51 AD3d 431, 431-432 [2008]).

Having concluded that the resident defendants had a duty to maintain the bathrooms of the Roxbury in a reasonably safe condition, we now address whether those defendants breached that duty. As the Court of Appeals has recognized, a determination “whether a dangerous or defective condition exists on the property of another so as to create liability depends on the peculiar facts and circumstances of each case and is generally a question of fact for the jury” (Trincere v County of Suffolk, 90 NY2d 976, 977 [1997] [internal quotation marks omitted]; see Bielicki v Excel Indus., Inc., 104 AD3d 1318, 1318 [2013]).

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Bluebook (online)
117 A.D.3d 55, 984 N.Y.S.2d 493, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parslow-v-leake-nyappdiv-2014.