Divine Slip and Fall: Court Rejects Fallen Wire of Jewish Eruv as Dangerous Condition

There is an interesting slip and fall case out of New York. Peggy Egar alleged that injured on March 31, 2003 at 12:00 P.M., when she tripped and fell down at the ramp of the Hospital’s teaching center located at 327 Beach 19th Street, Far Rockaway, New York. Despite an incident the prior year, the court found that there was no constructive notice that the eruv constituted a dangerous condition.

A community Eruv refers to the “mixture” under Jewish religious property law of separate parcels of property to be considered a single piece of property to allow Jews to carry children and belongings anywhere within the jointly held property. The Eruv has been the subject of litigation before and is found in major cities ranging from New York City to Jerusalem.

The court ruled:

A plaintiff in a slip-and-fall case must demonstrate that the defendant created the condition which caused the accident, or that the defendant had actual or constructive notice of the condition (Kraemer v K-Mart Corp., 226 AD2d 590 [1996]). To constitute constructive notice, a defect must be visible and apparent and it must exist for a sufficient length of time prior to the accident to permit defendant’s employees to discover and remedy it (Gordon v American Museum of Natural History, 67 NY2d 836 [1986]). Thus, in the absence of proof as to how long the eruv wire was on the ramp, there is no evidence to permit an inference that the Congregation or Hospital defendants had constructive notice of the condition (see Kershner v Pathmark Stores, Inc., 280 AD2d 583 [2001]; McDuffie v Fleet Fin. Group, 269 AD2d 575 [2000]; Maguire v Southland Corp., 245 AD2d 347 [1997]).

For the opinion, click here

Kudos to the Religion Clause blog.