Anita Martin fell while in a local playground and claimed--in a personal-injury lawsuit later filed by her--that the one-half inch differential between the play area's rubber surface and the adjoining cement walkway created a "dangerous or defective condition" which triggered the landowner's liability for her injuries.
While the Bronx County Supreme Court rebuffed the owner's attempt to dismiss Ms. Martin's case, the Appellate Division, First Department, reversed on appeal. In its brief decision, the appellate court concluded that since the gap did not comprise a "trap or snare," and the surface was not "broken, cracked or otherwise defective," Ms. Martin's case could not continue. As the court observed, "This minor height differential alone is insufficient to establish the existence of a dangerous or defective condition for which the property owner could be held liable...."
That outcome is a trip, don't you think?
For a copy of the Appellate Division's decision in Martin v. Lafayette Morrison Hous. Corp., please click on the following link:
http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2006/2006_05884.htm