Gordon v. American Museum of Natural History, 67 N.Y.2d 836, 492 N.E.2d 774, 501 N.Y.S.2d 646 (N.Y. 1986)
Gordon v. American Museum of Natural History is a cornerstone New York Court of Appeals decision that crystallizes the constructive notice requirement in premises liability actions, particularly slip-and-fall cases involving transient hazards.
Whether the museum had constructive notice of the specific dangerous condition (a piece of paper on the steps) that caused plaintiff's fall, sufficient to impose premises liability.
To hold a premises owner liable for injuries caused by a transient condition, the plaintiff must show the owner created the condition or had actual or constructive notice of it. To constitute constructive notice, the defect must be visible and apparent and must exist for a sufficient length of time prior to the accident to permit the defendant's employees to discover and remedy it. A general awareness that a dangerous condition may be present is legally insufficient to constitute notice of the particular condition that caused the injury.
No. The plaintiff failed to present evidence that the paper was visible and apparent for a sufficient period before the accident to impute constructive notice to the museum; general awareness of littering does not establish notice of the specific condition. Summary judgment for the museum was warranted.
Gordon is the leading New York authority on constructive notice in slip-and-fall cases. It teaches that plaintiffs must present evidence about the specific defect's visibility and duration—such as surveillance footage, inspection logs, witness testimony about the condition's presence over time, or proof of an immediately prior observation by staff. Conversely, defendants can win summary judgment by showing the absence of such proof and by framing plaintiffs' contentions as generalized awareness of hazards, which Gordon holds is insufficient. The case is routinely cited to distinguish adequate evidence of a recurring or long-standing hazard from mere conjecture about transient conditions.