Rambarran v New York City Tr. Auth., 2019 NY Slip Op 00484 (2d Dept. 2019)
“Here, the plaintiff’s evidence at trial included her own testimony, the testimony of her expert engineer, as well as photographs identified and marked by the plaintiff showing the alleged defect as it existed at the time of the subject accident. Accepting such evidence as true, and affording the plaintiff every favorable inference that may be properly drawn from the facts presented (see Szczerbiak v Pilat, 90 NY2d 553, 556), the alleged defect was not actionable. Considering the appearance and dimensions of the protruding bolt, as well as its location on the sidewall of the staircase, directly underneath a handrail and away from the walking surface of the stairway “
This was an interesting case as it involved a trip and fall and a $650,000 jury verdict. The Second Department almost seems to intimate that the plaintiff sought out this defect and non-suited this case.
