| Reiff v Beechwood Browns Rd. Bldg. Corp. |
| 2008 NY Slip Op 07226 [54 AD3d 1015] |
| September 30, 2008 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| Stanley Reiff et al., Appellants, v Beechwood BrownsRoad Building Corp., Respondent, et al., Defendants. |
—[*1] Morenus, Conway, Goren & Brandman, Melville, N.Y. (Frank R. Matozzo of counsel), forrespondent.
In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., the plaintiffs appeal from an orderof the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Doyle, J.), dated November 13, 2007, which granted themotion of the defendant Beechwood Browns Road Building Corp. for summary judgmentdismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against it.
Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.
The plaintiff Stanley Reiff was injured when he fell while descending wooden steps attachedto a trailer being used as a sales office for a townhouse development project. At his deposition,the injured plaintiff testified that as he was stepping down from the landing to the top step, one ofhis heels caught on "something." The injured plaintiff did not know what caused his heel tobecome caught.
The defendant Beechwood Browns Road Building Corp. established its prima facieentitlement to judgment as a matter of law by submitting the injured plaintiff's depositiontestimony, which demonstrated that he was unable to identify any defect which caused him to fall(see Kletke v GOS Corp., 51 AD3d875 [2008]; DeSantis v Lessing's,Inc., 46 AD3d 742 [2007]; Plowden v Stevens Partners, LLC, 45 AD3d 659 [2007]; Denicola v Costello, 44 AD3d 990[2007]; Curran v Esposito, 308 AD2d 428 [2003]). In opposition to the motion, theplaintiffs failed to raise a triable issue of fact. Although the plaintiffs [*2]submitted an affidavit from an engineer who claimed that the stepsviolated several provisions of the New York State Building Code, the plaintiffs presented noevidence connecting these alleged violations to the injured plaintiff's fall. Thus, it would bespeculative to assume that these alleged violations were a proximate cause of the accident (see Plowden v Stevens Partners, LLC,45 AD3d 659 [2007]; Denicolav Costello, 44 AD3d 990 [2007]; Guiterrez v Iannacci, 43 AD3d 868 [2007]; Tutunjian v Cove Landing on SoundHomeowners Assn., Inc., 38 AD3d 531 [2007]; Lissauer v Shaarei Halacha, Inc., 37 AD3d 427 [2007]). Lifson,J.P., Florio, Eng and Belen, JJ., concur.