Brief Description of Case:
Plaintiff allegedly sustained injuries as the result of slipping on sand, an alleged dangerous and defective condition, on an outdoor basketball court located at the Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School within the Town of Oyster Bay, New York. We moved for an order granting summary judgment to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint with evidence showing contradictions in plaintiff’s own testimony and supportive testimony of the groundskeeper for the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District.
Court or Jury’s Decision and Reasoning:
We successfully argued that the School District met its prima facie burden warranting summary judgment. Plaintiff’s testimony at his municipal hearing contradicted his later deposition regarding when he first observed the sand on the basketball court. In the municipal hearing, the plaintiff claimed to have seen the sand before he played, while at the time of his deposition, he testified that he saw the sand for the first time after he fell. He also later conceded that there was lack of proof of what defective condition, if any, caused the accident.
We also successfully argued that any alleged presence of sand on the basketball court was trivial as a matter of law. Plaintiff admitted he did not know what caused him to fall and merely speculated that it was sand that had been “blown” onto the court. Such speculation is insufficient to raise a triable issue of fact, and the presence of any alleged sand was not a condition caused by the School District’s failure to maintain the premises. Accordingly, our motion for summary judgment dismissing the entire complaint was granted.