| Durante v Kenmore-Tonawanda Union Free School Dist. |
| 2003 NY Slip Op 20239 [2 AD3d 1441] |
| December 31, 2003 |
| Appellate Division, Fourth Department |
| As corrected through |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| Richard Durante, Individually and as Parent and Natural Guardian of Alicia Durante, an Infant, Appellant, v Kenmore-Tonawanda Union Free School District, Respondent. |
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Appeal from an order of Supreme Court, Erie County (Sedita, Jr., J.), entered September 16, 2002, which granted defendant's motion for summary judgment and dismissed the complaint.
It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from be and the same hereby is unanimously reversed on the law without costs, the motion is denied and the complaint is reinstated.
Memorandum: Plaintiff commenced this action seeking damages for injuries sustained by his seven-year-old daughter when she tripped and fell while ascending the stairs leading into her elementary school. Supreme Court erred in granting defendant's motion seeking summary judgment dismissing the complaint. Even assuming, arguendo, that defendant met its initial burden on the motion, we conclude that plaintiff raised an issue of fact sufficient to defeat the motion (see Zuckerman v City of New York, 49 NY2d 557, 562 [1980]). Plaintiff's daughter fell as she attempted to step onto the top stair, and photographs submitted by plaintiff establish that there is a height differential between the riser of the second stair from the top and the riser on the top stair. Plaintiff, a carpenter with 22 years of experience in construction, submitted an affidavit stating that the height differential resulted from the fact that the concrete stairs had settled over time. Plaintiff further stated that the riser of the lower stair measured 5