Court dismisses tenant's injury claim arising from fall on ice

The Court of Appeals reversed the trial judge and threw out Shenenia Gleaves' personal injury claim against Raymundo DeLeon, her landlord, after DeLeon's attorneys sought summary disposition.  The insurance attorneys argued that Gleaves could not maintain a case because the ice outside her doorway was "open and obvious."  The trial judge had decided that there was a genuine issue of material fact with regard to whether an ordinary person would have detected the ice on casual inspection, but the high court judges rejected that decision.  They concluded, from their review of the facts, that the landlord owed no duty to address the icy condition because it was winter, had been "misting" that day, five inches of snow had fallen, and Gleaves acknowledged that after she fell she noticed that the sidewalk was "glistening."  The Court chose not to consider Gleaves' additional testimony about the dim lighting at the location. or her claim that she "could not" see the ice on the walkway.