| Estrategia Corp. v Lafayette Commercial Condo |
| 2012 NY Slip Op 04095 [95 AD3d 732] |
| May 29, 2012 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| Estrategia Corp. et al.,Respondents-Appellants, v Lafayette Commercial Condo, Appellant-Respondent. (And aThird-Party Action.) |
—[*1] Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC, New York (Amelia K. Brankov of counsel), forrespondents-appellants.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Martin Shulman, J.), entered December 22, 2011,which, insofar as appealed from as limited by the briefs, denied the parties' cross motions forsummary judgment as to liability on the negligence cause of action, unanimously affirmed,without costs.
Plaintiffs' failure to plead the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur in the complaint does not renderthe doctrine unavailable at trial. They pleaded negligence, and the circumstances warrant thedoctrine's application (compare Ianotta vTishman Speyer Props., Inc., 46 AD3d 297 [2007], with Yousefi v Rudeth Realty, LLC, 61 AD3d 677 [2009]).
However, while plaintiffs submitted sufficient evidence to give rise to a permissibleinference of negligence on defendant's part under the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur (seeDermatossian v New York City Tr. Auth., 67 NY2d 219, 226 [1986]), they have not shownthat the inference of negligence is inescapable or that defendant failed to raise any material issueof fact in rebuttal thereof (see Morejon vRais Constr. Co., 7 NY3d 203, 209 [2006]; Shinshine Corp. v Kinney Sys., 173AD2d 293 [1991]). Concur—Friedman, J.P., Sweeny, Renwick, Freedman andAbdus-Salaam, JJ. [Prior Case History: 2011 NY Slip Op 33405(U).]