As we've previously noted in "How to Prove a Slip and Fall on Snow or Ice Case in New York" and "Why Many Slip and Fall on Snow & Ice Cases Fail in New York's Courts," these types of cases are typically fraught with difficulties, and hard to prove.
The reason for this is rather straightforward: unless the defendant property owner (or tenant) actively contributed to the creation of the dangerous, slippery condition (which in and of itself is rare, and even harder to actually prove), you are going to have to establish that the defendants either knew, or should have known, about this condition, yet failed to remedy the situation in a reasonable amount of time.
That is certainly no easy task.
There are circumstances where this evidentiary hurdle can be overcome, however, and that is precisely what happened in the case brought by 32 year-old Queens resident Kevin Reeves, who was able to demonstrate that the reason he slipped and injured his back and neck (and therefore required multiple corrective surgeries) was because there was a recurrent leaky water condition that seeped onto the stairway through a divot in the sidewalk that was situated above the stairway's upper landing, and that this condition had long preceded the accident.
