DEL ROSARIO v. 114 FIFTH AVENUE ASSOCIATES

Plaintiff, a janitor employed by third-party defendant commercial tenant in a building owned and managed by defendants, alleges that while mopping a washroom floor, he slipped and fell on water that had leaked from a toilet. The action was properly dismissed on the ground that the leaky toilet did not constitute a substantial structural defect for which the out-of-possession landlord and managing agent were responsible under the lease. An out-of-possession landlord with a general right of reentry is not liable for general maintenance defects (Raynor v. 666 Fifth Avenue Limited Partnership, 232 A.D.2d 226). Plaintiff's request to amend his bill of particulars three years after commencement of the action, and five months after he filed a note of issue, so as to allege various statutory violations all based on the theory that his employer was running a factory or mercantile establishment, was properly rejected as untimely and prejudicial (see, Plung v. Cohen, 250 A.D.2d 430, 431), and, in any event, as without merit.

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