McFadden v 726 Liberty Corp.
2011 NY Slip Op 08733 [89 AD3d 1067]
November 29, 2011
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, January 4th, 2012


Anthony McFadden, Appellant,
v
726 Liberty Corp.,Respondent.

[*1]Frederic A. Nicholson, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Elefterakis & Elefterakis, P.C. [NicholasElefterakis], of counsel), for appellant.

Russo, Keane & Toner, LLP, New York, N.Y. (Thomas F. Keane, Fern Flomenhaft, and TheresaC. Villani of counsel), for respondent.

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the plaintiff appeals from an order of theSupreme Court, Kings County (Lewis, J.), entered October 1, 2010, which granted the defendant'smotion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.

Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.

" '[A] plaintiff's inability to identify the cause of the [subject] fall is fatal to the cause of actionbecause a finding that the defendant's negligence, if any, proximately caused the plaintiff's injuries wouldbe based on speculation' " (Alabre v KingsFlatland Car Care Ctr., Inc., 84 AD3d 1286, 1287 [2011], quoting Rajwan v 109-23 Owners Corp., 82 AD3d1199, 1200 [2011]; see Capasso vCapasso, 84 AD3d 997, 998 [2011]; Patrick v Costco Wholesale Corp., 77 AD3d 810 [2010]). Here, thedefendant established its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by demonstrating thatthe plaintiff was unable to identify the cause of his fall (see Capasso v Capasso, 84 AD3d at998; Patrick v Costco Wholesale Corp., 77 AD3d at 811). In opposition, the plaintiff failed toraise a triable issue of fact (see Zuckerman v City of New York, 49 NY2d 557, 562-564[1980]; McCord v Olympia & York MaidenLane Co., 8 AD3d 634, 636 [2004]).

Accordingly, the Supreme Court correctly granted the defendant's motion for summary judgmentdismissing the complaint. Mastro, J.P., Florio, Lott and Cohen, JJ., concur.


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