| Babes v New York City Tr. Auth. |
| 2014 NY Slip Op 04722 [118 AD3d 927] |
| June 25, 2014 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| Ioana Babes et al., Appellants, v New York City Transit Authority, Respondent. |
Sim & Record, LLP, Bayside, N.Y. (Sang J. Sim of counsel), for appellants.
Wallace D. Gossett, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Lawrence Heisler of counsel), for respondent.
In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the plaintiffs appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Flug, J.), entered October 28, 2013, which, upon a jury verdict on the issue of liability, is in favor of the defendant and against them dismissing the complaint.
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.
On January 8, 2009, the plaintiffs' decedent, Ecaterina Dragetescu, slipped and fell over an alleged defect on a step in a staircase leading down to a subway station. Dragetescu commenced this action against the New York City Transit Authority (hereinafter the Transit Authority) to recover damages for personal injuries she allegedly sustained, claiming, inter alia, negligent maintenance. Dragetescu died prior to the trial, and the co-administrators of her estate were substituted as the plaintiffs in this action. After a jury trial, the jury rendered a verdict finding that the Transit Authority was not liable because the subject staircase was "in [a] reasonably safe condition." The plaintiffs appeal, contending that the jury verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence.
A jury verdict should only be set aside as contrary to the weight of the evidence when the verdict could not have been reached on any fair interpretation of the evidence (see Lolik v Big V Supermarkets, 86 NY2d 744, 745 [1995]).
At the trial, the plaintiffs' evidence consisted of photographs taken of the subject
staircase 3
[*2] Upon the presentation of its case, the Transit Authority read into evidence excerpts of Dragetescu's testimony from both the 50-h hearing and her deposition. In one of those excerpts, Dragetescu testified that the step was missing a "very little" piece, so small that she found no reason to go around it.
Photographs taken of the steps 3
The plaintiffs' remaining contention is without merit. Rivera, J.P., Chambers, Austin and Duffy, JJ., concur.