Maldonado v City of New York

Holding Summary judgment was properly granted because the plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact regarding whether the City had prior written notice of the specific defect or affirmatively created it. The City’s records showed no written complaints about the specific bump, and photographs of other nearby defects did not constitute a written acknowledgment of the injury-causing condition.

The court’s words

The City showed that it lacked prior written notice of the condition by submitting an affirmation of its assistant records officer

2026 NY Slip Op 06201, at the official text

The records also showed that the City did not affirmatively cause or create the defect through an act of negligence

2026 NY Slip Op 06201, at the official text

plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact concerning whether the City had prior written notice of the defect

2026 NY Slip Op 06201, at the official text

that fact by itself does not provide a basis for an inference that the repair immediately resulted in a hazardous condition

2026 NY Slip Op 06201, at the official text

does not provide a nonspeculative basis to conclude that the work immediately resulted in the alleged defect before plaintiff's accident

2026 NY Slip Op 06201, at the official text

do not constitute a written acknowledgement of the specific defect that allegedly caused his injury

2026 NY Slip Op 06201, at the official text

None of the City's photographs and inspection reports documented or referred to a bump or a hole in the subject pathway

2026 NY Slip Op 06201, at the official text

those records fail to demonstrate that the City had knowledge of the defect and the danger it presented prior to plaintiff's fall

2026 NY Slip Op 06201, at the official text