1

14-1504-cv

Nussbaum v. Metro-North

1

2 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

3 FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

4

5 SUMMARY ORDER

6

7 Rulings by summary order do not have precedential effect. Citation to a summary order filed 

8 on or after January 1, 2007, is permitted and is governed by Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 

9 32.1 and this Court’s Local Rule 32.1.1. When citing a summary order in a document filed with this 

10 Court, a party must cite either the Federal Appendix or an electronic database (with the notation 

11 “summary order”). A party citing a summary order must serve a copy of it on any party not 

12 represented by counsel.

13

14 At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, held at the

Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of New York, on the 2

nd 15

16 day of March, two thousand fifteen.

17

18 PRESENT: AMALYA L. KEARSE,

19 DEBRA ANN LIVINGSTON,

20 SUSAN L. CARNEY,

21 Circuit Judges.

22

23

24 ELIZABETH NUSSBAUM,

25

26 Plaintiff-Appellant,

27

28 v. No. 14-1504-cv

29

30 METRO-NORTH COMMUTER RAILROAD,

31

Defendant-Appellee.

*

32

33

34

35 FOR ELIZABETH NUSSBAUM: IRA M. MAURER, The Maurer Law Firm, 

36 PLLC, Fishkill, NY.

37

38 FOR METRO-NORTH COMMUTER ANDREW P. KEAVENEY, Landman Corsi 

39 RAILROAD: Ballaine & Ford P.C., New York, NY.

40

41 Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of 

42 New York (Nelson S. Román, Judge).

 

* The Clerk of the Court is respectfully directed to amend the caption as set forth above.
2

1 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION WHEREOF, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, 

2 ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the judgment of the District Court is AFFIRMED.

3 Plaintiff-Appellant Elizabeth Nussbaum appeals from the District Court’s January 23, 2014 

4 judgment granting Defendant-Appellee Metro-North’s motion for summary judgment in 

5 Nussbaum’s slip-and-fall negligence suit, and from the District Court’s May 8, 2014 order denying 

6 Nussbaum’s motion for reconsideration. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts, 

the procedural history of the case, and the issues on appeal.17

8 We review orders granting summary judgment de novo, resolving all factual ambiguities and 

9 drawing all reasonable factual inferences in favor of the non-moving party. Miller v. Wolpoff & 

10 Abramson, L.L.P., 321 F.3d 292, 300 (2d Cir. 2003). Summary judgment is appropriate only if the 

11 moving party can show that there are no genuine issues of material fact and that the moving party is 

12 entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. “To establish a prima facie case on a slip and fall” under 

13 New York law, a plaintiff “must show that the defendant[] either created a dangerous condition or 

14 had actual or constructive knowledge of the condition.” Lemonda v. Sutton, 268 A.D.2d 383, 384 

15 (N.Y. App. Div. 2000) (citations omitted).

16 When a plaintiff seeks to establish a defendant’s slip-and-fall liability by showing that the 

17 defendant created a dangerous condition, “the application of wax, polish, or paint to a floor in a 

18 nonnegligent manner will not, standing alone, support a negligence cause of action for making the 

19 floor slippery.” Walsh v. Super Value, Inc., 76 A.D.3d 371, 374 (N.Y. App. Div. 2010). Because liability 

20 attaches only to fault, “a defendant may not be held liable for creating a dangerous or defective 

21 condition upon property unless the defendant had actual, constructive, or imputed knowledge of the 

22 danger created.” Id. at 372. Put another way, a plaintiff who alleges that a defendant created a 

23 dangerous condition must prove, not only that the defendant knew or had reason to know of the 

24 condition, but that the defendant knew or had reason to know of the danger, i.e., that the condition it 

25 created was dangerous. Id. at 376.

26 In this case, Nussbaum has failed to create a genuine issue of material fact as to Metro27 North’s knowledge that the detergent would create a dangerously slippery condition in the train car. 

28 Metro-North did not follow the manufacturer’s recommendation that FO 2276 be diluted by ten to

29 twenty parts water to one part detergent, but there is nothing in the record to suggest that the 

30 dilution recommendation had anything to do with slipperiness, or that Metro-North had any reason 

31 to believe that it did. In addition, Nussbaum did not offer any evidence to suggest that the detergent 

32 had caused any previous accidents. While Metro-North’s database of passenger injuries indicated 

 

1 At oral argument, we questioned whether subject matter jurisdiction was present in this case, as Nussbaum’s complaint 

alleged that she was a resident of Massachusetts, but did not allege that she was domiciled in Massachusetts at the time of 

filing. We invited Nussbaum to submit an affidavit regarding her domicile; having reviewed her affidavit, we are satisfied 

that Nussbaum was domiciled in Massachusetts when her complaint was filed, and therefore that the parties to the case 

were diverse, making jurisdiction proper under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1).
3

1 that previous slip-and-fall incidents were attributable to wet floors, there were no recorded incidents 

2 referring to detergent or residue. Metro-North certainly cleaned its train floors with FO 2276, and 

3 so, to the extent that the detergent was dangerous, created a dangerous condition. But Metro-North 

4 cannot be found liable under New York law on that theory unless it knew (or had reason to know) 

5 that the detergent would make the floor dangerously slippery, and Nussbaum has failed to produce 

6 the slightest evidence that this was so.

7 Even if a defendant did not create a dangerous condition, the defendant can still be found 

8 liable if it had actual or constructive notice of the condition and failed to correct it. See Lemonda, 268 

9 A.D.2d at 384. Actual notice requires that a defendant receive complaints or similarly be alerted to 

10 the existence of the dangerous condition. See Matcovsky v. Days Hotel, 10 A.D.3d 557, 558 (N.Y. App. 

11 Div. 2004). There is no evidence to suggest that Metro-North received any complaints about 

12 detergent residue on the floor of the train cars, or that any previous accidents were attributable to 

13 the detergent, such that Metro-North would be put on actual notice of the existence of the residue. 

14 To prove liability based on constructive notice, the danger must have been “visible and apparent and 

15 it must exist for a sufficient length of time prior to the accident to permit [the defendant] to discover 

16 and remedy it.” Lemonda, 268 A.D.2d at 384 (internal quotation marks omitted). In this case, there 

17 was no “visible and apparent” detergent residue on the floor of the train car where Nussbaum

18 slipped. Nussbaum testified that she saw only water on the floor, and, although the train conductor

19 testified that it was not unusual for him to see a white residue on the floor, he did not testify that he 

20 saw such a residue on the day when Nussbaum fell. He responded negatively when asked whether 

21 he observed any “tripping hazards.” Since there was no genuine issue of material fact regarding 

22 Metro-North’s creation of the alleged dangerous condition or Metro-North’s actual or constructive 

23 notice of same, the district court properly granted Metro-North’s motion for summary judgment.

24 We review a district court’s denial of a motion for reconsideration for abuse of discretion. 

25 Simon v. City of New York, 727 F.3d 167, 171 (2d Cir. 2013), cert. denied, 134 S. Ct. 1934 (2014). “In 

26 challenging the denial of [her] motion for reconsideration, [Nussbaum] fails to point to any case law 

27 or other relevant information that the district court overlooked. . . . [Nussbaum]’s arguments to the 

28 contrary amount to a disagreement with the district court’s conclusions with respect to the case law 

29 that was already before it, and accordingly, the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying 

30 reconsideration.” Cyrus v. City of New York, 450 F. App’x 24, 26 (2d Cir. 2011).

31 CONCLUSION

32 For the reasons stated above, we AFFIRM the District Court’s judgment.

33 FOR THE COURT:

34 Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk

35