Marie Castronuovo Wins Summary Judgment In New York County

On April 24, 2017 Marie A. Castronuovo won summary judgment dismissing plaintiff’s complaint in Elsner v. Boston Properties, Index No. 153527/14 (Supreme Court, New York County). The plaintiff claimed that he was injured when he slipped and fell on a wet terrazzo floor inside of a building. The plaintiff claimed the defendant cleaning contractor was responsible for the accident because it knew or should have known of the slippery nature of the terrazzo floor when wet and it failed to properly place inclement weather mats and caution signs in the area of the accident. Ms. Castronuovo argued that the defendant cleaning contractor did not create, nor have notice of the alleged condition, was not required to cover the entire floor with weather mats, and was not required to continuously mop all moisture from tracked-in rain. Ms. Castronuovo also argued that the dry mopping schedule was reasonable and unrefuted by plaintiff who could not establish how long the wet condition had been present in the area where he fell. The Court agreed and dismissed all claims against the defendants, including the cleaning contractor.