Ettari v 30 Rampasture Owners, Inc.
2005 NYSlipOp 01492
February 28, 2005
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, April 20, 2005


Gerald Ettari, Respondent,
v
30 Rampasture Owners, Inc., et al., Appellants.

[*1]

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the defendants appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Seidell, J.H.O.), dated July 16, 2003, which denied their motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.

Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.

The fact that the ice and snow in the driveway area where the plaintiff allegedly fell was open and obvious does not preclude a finding of liability, but rather raises a triable issue of fact regarding comparative negligence (see Cupo v Karfunkel, 1 AD3d 48 [2003]; Luksch v Blum-Rohl Fishing Corp., 3 AD3d 475 [2004]; Kraeling v Leading Edge Elec., 2 AD3d 789 [2003]; Grgich v City of New York, 2 AD3d 680 [2003]; Moloney v Wal-Mart Stores, 2 AD3d 508 [2003]; Massucci v Amoco Oil Co., 292 AD2d 351 [2002]).

Further, the mere fact that the plaintiff may have fallen in an ice and snow-covered area adjacent to the driveway, which also allegedly was under the defendants' control, rather than on the uncleared driveway itself, is not sufficient to relieve the defendants of liability (see Rosenbloom v City of New York, 254 AD2d 474 [1998]; Malley v Alice Hyde Hosp. Assn., 297 AD2d 425 [2002]). Krausman, J.P., Mastro, Rivera and Skelos, JJ., concur.


NYPTI Decisions © 2026 is a project of New York Prosecutors Training Institute (NYPTI) made possible by leveraging the work we've done providing online research and tools to prosecutors.

NYPTI would like to thank New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York State Senate's Open Legislation Project, New York State Unified Court System, New York State Law Reporting Bureau and Free Law Project for their invaluable assistance making this project possible.

Install the free RECAP extensions to help contribute to this archive. See https://free.law/recap/ for more information.