MORALES v. RIVERBAY CORPORATION

Plaintiff was allegedly injured when she tripped on a sidewalk in Coop City, which is owned and operated by defendant Riverbay Corporation. Plaintiff testified that the sidewalk was not level, with a displacement of "[a]bout an inch."

It is settled that "[t]he owner of a public passageway may not be cast in damages for negligent maintenance by reason of trivial defects on a walkway, not constituting a trap or nuisance, as a consequence of which a pedestrian might merely stumble, stub his toes, or trip over a raised projection" ( Liebl v. Metropolitan Jockey Club, 10 A.D.2d 1006; Guerrieri v. Summa, 193 A.D.2d 647; Hecht v. City of New York, 89 A.D.2d 524, mod on other grounds 60 N.Y.2d 57; Mascaro v. State of New York, 46 A.D.2d 941, affd 38 N.Y.2d 870). Further, differences in elevation of about one inch, without more, have been held to be nonactionable ( Hecht v. City of New York, supra; Mascaro v. State of New York, supra; Allen v Carr, 28 A.D.2d 155, affd 22 N.Y.2d 924).

In the matter at bar, the differential between the two slabs was, by plaintiff's own testimony, about an inch and possessed none of the characteristics of a trap or a snare.

Concur — Murphy, P.J., Milonas, Ross, Nardelli and Tom, JJ.