Donaldson v New York City Hous. Auth.
2012 NY Slip Op 00420 [91 AD3d 550]
January 24, 2012
Appellate Division, First Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, February 29, 2012


Crystal Donaldson, Respondent,
v
New York City Housing Authority, Appellant.

[*1] Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker LLP, New York (Patrick J. Lawless of counsel), for appellant.

Greenstein & Milbauer, LLP, New York (Michael A. Barnett of counsel), for respondent.

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Mary Ann Brigantti-Hughes, J.), entered October 6, 2010, which, in an action for personal injuries, granted plaintiff's motion for leave to amend the notice of claim, unanimously reversed, on the law and the facts, without costs, and the motion denied.

Leave to amend the notice of claim pursuant to General Municipal Law § 50-e (6) was improperly granted since the statute only "authorizes the correction of good faith, nonprejudicial, technical defects or omissions, not substantive changes in the theory of liability" (Scott v City of New York, 40 AD3d 408, 410 [2007]). Plaintiff's proposed amendment impermissibly sought to change the theory of liability from a slip and fall on the sidewalk outside defendant's building due to an accumulation of snow/ice, to a slip and fall due to a wet metal weather strip located on the threshold of the building's front door (see Santana v New York City Tr. Auth., 88 AD3d 539 [2011]; Torres v New York City Hous. Auth., 261 AD2d 273 [1999], lv denied 93 NY2d 816 [1999]). Moreover, the prejudice to defendant is apparent inasmuch as the original notice of claim was insufficient to allow defendant to conduct a meaningful investigation of plaintiff's amended claim (see Santana at 540). Concur—Tom, J.P., Friedman, DeGrasse, Richter and Manzanet-Daniels, JJ.