Paul Cividanes (Of Counsel-Long Island) and Joseph Laird (Partner-White Plains, NY) prevailed on their motion for summary judgment in Kings County Supreme Court, Brooklyn, New York, for Wilson Elser’s hotel owner client. The plaintiff had entered the hotel lobby and sat down at a communal table. Shortly thereafter, upon standing up to take a phone call, she walked into and struck her head on a television screen mounted on the wall near the table. The plaintiff allegedly sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI), among other injuries, requiring extensive medical treatment.

Paul and Joe moved for summary judgment after successfully establishing that the plaintiff encountered an open and obvious condition which was not inherently dangerous and could have been avoided with reasonable care and ordinary senses. The court rejected the plaintiff’s argument that the television was dangerously positioned because it was at eye level and placed close to the table, where it was readily apparent and available to hotel guests. The court was persuaded by the caselaw cited in Paul and Joe’s motion, which supported dismissal where plaintiffs were injured by conditions that were also at eye level but arguably less open and obvious than the large television screen at issue, including a small hook in a department store dressing room and a Fire Department key lock box affixed to a brick exterior wall.  Accordingly, the court granted Wilson Elser’s motion and dismissed the claims against the client.