Harris v APW Supermarkets, Inc.
2009 NY Slip Op 05291 [63 AD3d 1000]
June 23, 2009
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, August 5, 2009


John Harris, Appellant,
v
APW Supermarkets, Inc.,Respondent.

[*1]The Cochran Firm, New York, N.Y. (Paul A. Marber of counsel), for appellant.

Kral, Clerkin, Redmond, Ryan, Perry & Girvan, LLP, Mineola, N.Y. (Nicole Licata-McCordof counsel), for respondent.

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the plaintiff appeals from an order ofthe Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Whelan, J.), dated July 1, 2008, which granted thedefendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.

Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.

The plaintiff allegedly sustained personal injuries when his right arm made contact with ashelf extender in an aisle of the defendant's supermarket. At his deposition, the plaintiff statedthat the shelf extender was made of a clear plastic, approximately a foot in length, and "as wideas it is long." In addition, he acknowledged that it contained certain grocery items at the time ofthe occurrence. Photographs appearing in the record on appeal depict a shelf extender screwedinto the edge of the shelf and protruding out from it.

The defendant established, prima facie, its entitlement to judgment as a matter of law byshowing that the shelf extender which allegedly caused the plaintiff's accident was readilyobservable by the reasonable use of one's senses and was not inherently dangerous (seeNeiderbach v 7-Eleven, Inc., 56 AD3d 632, 633 [2008]). In opposition, the plaintiff failed toraise a triable issue of fact (see CPLR 3212 [b]). Accordingly, the Supreme Courtproperly granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.Prudenti, P.J., Fisher, Miller and Lott, JJ., concur.


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