A trial court should not have rejected a key witness in a wrongful death case brought after a man fell over a golf course's sprinkler valve, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed summary judgment in MacIsaac v. Nassau County, 6575/13, ruling that Patricia MacIsaac, the administer of husband John MacIsaac's estate, had raised a triable issue of fact as to whether a sprinkler valve in a grass-covered hole “was concealed or unreasonably increased the risks inherent in the golf course.”

The underlying suit centered on John MacIsaac's trip and fall in 2012 as he walked from the 12th green to the 13th tee box on a course at Nassau County's Eisenhower Park.