DeSantis v Lessing's, Inc.
2007 NY Slip Op 10094 [46 AD3d 742]
December 18, 2007
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, February 13, 2008


Anita DeSantis, Appellant,
v
Lessing's, Inc., DoingBusiness as West Sayville Country Club, Respondent.

[*1]John H. Mulvehill, St. James, N.Y., for appellant.

Purcell & Ingrao, P.C., Mineola, N.Y. (Terrance J. Ingrao and Lynn A. Ingrao of counsel),for respondent.

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the plaintiff appeals from a judgment ofthe Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Doyle, J.), entered June 15, 2007, which, upon an order ofthe same court dated March 14, 2007, granting the defendant's motion for summary judgmentdismissing the complaint, is in favor of the defendant and against her dismissing the complaint.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.

The defendant established its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law bysubmitting the plaintiff's deposition testimony, in which she was unable to explain what causedher to trip and fall (see Curran v Esposito, 308 AD2d 428, 429 [2003]; Hartman vMountain Val. Brew Pub, 301 AD2d 570 [2003]). The evidence which the plaintiffsubmitted in opposition to the motion for summary judgment, consisting primarily of an affidavitprepared by her expert, William Marletta, Ph.D., failed to raise a triable issue of fact (seeCPLR 3212 [b]). New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code § 765.4 (a)(7) (see 19 NYCRR 1221.1), the provision upon which Dr. Marletta relied, explicitlygoverns exit stairways and thus does not apply to the door saddle in question here, whichseparated two interior rooms at the defendant's facility (see Griffin v High Fives Rest.,271 AD2d 646, 646-647 [2000]; cf.Chaehee Jung v Kum Gang, Inc., 22 AD3d 441, 442-443 [2005]).

The plaintiff's remaining contentions are without merit. Miller, J.P., Crane, Dillon andBalkin, JJ., concur.


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