## Facts

- Liberty Bank of Buffalo owned a two-family house; tenants used a common wooden stairway to the basement.
- Robert H. Ingersoll leased the lower apartment; Jessie B. Ingersoll, his administratrix, sued for injuries and death allegedly caused by a fall on the stairway.
- The stair treads were in poor condition, described as badly worn, shaky, and loose; the bottom step had been cracked and nailed, and the second step from the bottom was cracked at the center.
- The condition was reported to the bank’s representatives; although other repairs were done, the stairway was not repaired.
- On the day of the accident, a 32-pound carton was brought to the apartment; about twenty minutes later, the decedent carried it to the basement stairs.
- A crash was heard; the decedent was found at the foot of the stairs on his back with the carton on his chest.
- After the fall, a portion of the second step from the bottom was broken off; it had not been seen broken earlier that day.
- The decedent stated something had given way in his chest; he was hospitalized and later died.
- Plaintiff contended the defective tread broke under the decedent and caused the fall; the bank contended the decedent suffered a medical event, dropped the carton, and the carton broke the step.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was sufficient to submit to the jury the question of the landlord’s negligence in maintaining a common stairway after notice of defects.
2. Whether circumstantial evidence was sufficient to permit a jury to find that the defective stair tread was a proximate cause of the fall and resulting injuries, despite competing explanations.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals reversed the Appellate Division’s dismissal of the complaint and ordered a new trial.
- The court held the plaintiff made a prima facie showing of negligent maintenance and of causal connection sufficient for jury determination.
- The court concluded the evidence permitted a reasonable inference that the cracked tread broke when stepped on and precipitated the fall.
- Alternative explanations (such as fainting or a heart attack) presented factual disputes for the jury rather than grounds to take the case from the jury.

## Legal Principles

- A premises-liability plaintiff may prove proximate cause by circumstantial evidence when the facts reasonably support the inference that the defendant’s negligence contributed to the injury.
- At the prima facie stage, the plaintiff need not eliminate every other possible cause; it is enough that the proof makes the negligent-causation inference reasonable rather than speculative.
- Where evidence permits more than one reasonable inference on causation, choosing among those inferences is for the jury, not an appellate court.
- A landlord with notice of a dangerous condition in a common area may be found negligent for failing to repair or make the condition reasonably safe.

## Conclusion

The court held that evidence of a known, unrepaired defect in a common stairway, combined with the post-accident break in the same tread and the circumstances of the fall, created a triable jury issue on both negligence and proximate cause, requiring a new trial.


Ingersoll v. Liberty Bank of Buffalo, 278 N.Y. 1 (1938)