FAIRCLOUGH v. 679 MAGENTA LLC

Plaintiff was injured in a fire in the apartment that she rented from defendant-landlord. She contends that the proximate cause of her injuries was the absence of an operating smoke detector in the apartment. However, it was not the landlord's duty to maintain or replace the smoke detector subsequent to the commencement of the apartment's occupancy (Administrative Code of the City of N.Y. § 27-2045[b]), and plaintiff has offered no evidence to rebut the building superintendent's sworn statement that, immediately prior to the occupancy in question, he installed an operating smoke detector in the subject apartment. Accordingly, inasmuch as no triable issue has been raised as to whether the landlord failed to satisfy the duty it had under the Code to provide a working smoke detector in plaintiff's apartment at the commencement of the tenancy, the complaint was properly dismissed.

We have reviewed plaintiff's remaining arguments and find them unavailing.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.