ELVIN LOPEZ, plf-res, v. ELIZABETH ANGELA CHAN, def-ap, KAMARAN GROCERY, def

8856. ELVIN LOPEZ, plf-res, v. ELIZABETH ANGELA CHAN, def-ap, KAMARAN GROCERY, def — [AND A THIRD PARTY ACTION] Callan, Koster, Brady & Brennan, LLP, New York (Gregory Kalnitsky of counsel), for ap — Gorayeb & Associates, P.C., New York (Roy A. Kuriloff of counsel), for res — Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Richard F. Braun, J.), entered March 14, 2012, which, to the extent appealed from, denied the motion of defendant landlord Elizabeth Angela Chan for summary judgment dismissing the complaint as against her, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, and the motion granted. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment dismissing the complaint as against Elizabeth Angela Chan.

In February 2008, plaintiff slipped and fell down a stairway while lowering a hand truck to deliver cases of beer to a storage cellar below a grocery store. Plaintiff was descending a short, vaulted stairway that led down from the sidewalk into the cellar. The cellar was inaccessible from inside the store, and the only way to enter or exit it was to open two metal doors that, when closed, lay flush with the sidewalk and covered the stairway.