| Ram v 64th St.-Third Ave. Assoc., LLC |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 03400 [61 AD3d 596] |
| April 28, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| Trevor Ram, Appellant, v 64th Street-Third AvenueAssociates, LLC, Respondent. |
—[*1] Thomas D. Hughes, New York (Richard C. Rubinstein of counsel), for respondent.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Richard F. Braun, J.), entered November 6, 2008,which granted defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the cause of action fornegligence, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Plaintiff was injured when, attempting to turn off a ceiling-mounted box fan, he placed hisright hand within the area of the revolving blades. The fan was located in a parking garage thatwas operated by plaintiff's employer under a lease with defendant, the building's owner. Themotion court correctly granted defendant's motion for summary judgment on the ground thatdefendant was an out-of-possession landlord that could not be held liable for any dangers posedby the fan where its lease with plaintiff's employer required the latter to keep all fixtures in goodworking order and to make any nonstructural repairs at its own expense (see generally Reyesv Morton Williams Associated Supermarkets, Inc., 50 AD3d 496, 497 [2008] [given right toreenter, liability must be based on a "significant structural or design defect that is contrary to aspecific statutory safety provision"]; cf. Javier v Ludin, 293 AD2d 448 [2002][dangerous fluorescent light fixture hanging from ceiling not a significant structural defect]).Plaintiff's reliance on Administrative Code of the City of NY §§ 27-756 and 27-772,which relate to the installation and operation of HVAC systems, and New York City BuildingCode Reference Standard RS-13 §§ 2-2.3.1, 2-2.3.3 and 2-3.7.3 (b) (AdministrativeCode, tit 27, ch 1, Appendix), which relate to the fans and air inlets of HVAC systems, ismisplaced; these provisions do not apply given no evidence that the fan was ducted or connectedto the building's air distribution system (see Reference Standard RS-13 § 1.5,defining, inter alia, "air distribution system" and "air inlet"). Administrative Code§§ 27-127 and 27-128 are general safety provisions that cannot support a claim ofliability against an out-of-possession landlord based on a significant structural defect(Boateng v Four Plus Corp., 22 AD3d 323, 324 [2005]; Reddy v 369 Lexington Ave.Co., L.P., 31 AD3d 732, 733 [2006]). We have considered plaintiff's other arguments andfind them unavailing. Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P., Andrias, Nardelli, Catterson andDeGrasse, JJ.