| Felix-Cortes v City of New York |
| 2008 NY Slip Op 06588 [54 AD3d 358] |
| August 12, 2008 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| Anna Felix-Cortes, Respondent, v City of New York,Appellant. |
—[*1] Robert Weiss, New York, N.Y. (David Taller of counsel), for respondent.
In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the defendant appeals from (1) aninterlocutory judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Knipel, J.), entered January 23,2007, which, upon a jury verdict on the issue of liability, found it 75% at fault in the happeningof the accident and the plaintiff 25% at fault in the happening of the accident and (2) an order ofthe same court dated July 25, 2007, which denied its motion pursuant to CPLR 4401 forjudgment as a matter of law at the close of the plaintiff's case for the plaintiff's failure to establisha prima facie case and its subsequent motion pursuant to CPLR 4404 (a) to set aside the verdictas a matter of law or, in the alternative, as against the weight of the evidence and for a new trial.
Ordered that the interlocutory judgment and the order are affirmed, with one bill of costs.
The plaintiff allegedly tripped and fell as a result of an elevation differential between twoadjacent sidewalk flags on a sidewalk in the Borough Hall section of Brooklyn. At the trial on theissue of liability in this action, the defendant moved for judgment as a matter of law at the closeof the plaintiff's case, and subsequently moved to set aside the jury verdict on the ground that thesidewalk defect was trivial in nature.[*2]
Upon consideration of the photographic exhibits whichwere admitted into evidence at the trial, as well as the time, place, and circumstances of theaccident (see Trincere v County of Suffolk, 90 NY2d 976, 978 [1997]), there exists avalid line of reasoning and permissible inferences which could have led the jury to conclude thatthe defect which caused the plaintiff's accident was not trivial in nature (see Cohen vHallmark Cards, 45 NY2d 493, 499 [1978]; Tapia v Dattco, Inc., 32 AD3d 842, 844 [2006]). In addition, theevidence submitted at the trial did not so preponderate in favor of the defendant that the verdictcould not have been reached on any fair interpretation of the evidence (see Lolik v Big VSupermarkets, 86 NY2d 744, 746 [1995]).
The plaintiff's remaining contention is without merit. Lifson, J.P., Ritter, Dillon andLeventhal, JJ., concur.