Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1998

Slate v. Fredonia Central School District

Slate v. Fredonia Central School District
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York · Decided December 31, 1998
256 A.D.2d 1210; 682 N.Y.S.2d 507; 1998 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 14377
Slate v. Fredonia Central School District

Opinion of the Court

—Order unanimously affirmed with costs. Memorandum: Although defendant presented sufficient evidence to entitle it to summary judgment dismissing the complaint, plaintiff raised questions of fact concerning causation, notice and the existence of a dangerous condition on the stair in defendant’s school where plaintiff’s son fell, thereby warranting denial of defendant’s motion (see generally, Zuckerman v City of New York, 49 NY2d 557, 562).

Although slight differences in elevation have been held to be nonactionable (see, Morales v Riverbay Corp., 226 AD2d 271; see also, Julian v Sementelli, 234 AD2d 866; Guerrieri v Summa, 193 AD2d 647), the same cases also hold that even a trivial height differential may be actionable where the defect constitutes a trap, snare, or nuisance. Plaintiff submitted an affidavit of a licensed engineer whose opinion it was that the repair in the stair constituted a trap, notwithstanding its minimal height differential, because the depression in the front part of the repair was not readily observable under normal *1211conditions, thus creating a question of fact whether the defect constituted a dangerous condition.

The remaining contentions of defendant lack merit or are not preserved for our review (see, Walker v Huber, 254 AD2d 734; Matter of Rodgers v Crumb, 242 AD2d 874). (Appeal from Order of Supreme Court, Chautauqua County, Gerace, J.— Summary Judgment.) Present — Green, J. P., Pine, Wisner, Balio and Boehm, JJ.

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