30 A.D.2d 895 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1968
Appeal (1) from a judgment of the Supreme Court in favor of the plaintiff entered April 24,1967 in Albany County upon a verdict rendered at Trial Term, and (2) from an order of said court entered May 1, 1967, which denied defendant’s motion to set aside the verdict. Plaintiff and defendant both were approximately 80 years of age at the time of the accident and had been close friends for over 40 years. On April 13, 1962 the plaintiff, who was visiting in defendant’s home, was about to go to bed for the night when she fell in her bedroom and was injured. About five weeks prior to plaintiff’s accident, the defendant had fallen in her dining room injuring her arm, which required hospitalization until four or five days prior to plaintiff’s accident. When the plaintiff learned that defendant was returning home from the hospital, she offered to come and stay with the defendant for a few days and had already arrived there when the defendant was brought home from the hospital. During plaintiff’s stay at defendant’s home, and up to the time of the accident, plaintiff helped defendant by assisting her in dressing and undressing, prepared breakfast and lunch, and did the dishes. The evening meal was prepared by defendant’s daughter who lived in an upstairs apartment in defendant’s home. Plaintiff had visited defendant many times prior to the accident, had stayed overnight, and had helped with the dishes on some occasions. The first issue on this appeal is the legal status of plaintiff at the .time of the accident, and it is conceded that, if the plaintiff was a social guest rather than an invitee, that plaintiff was not entitled to recover. The jury found that plaintiff was an invitee. A social guest who performs minor services for his host does not thereby assume the status of an invitee. (3 Warren’s Negligence, p. 261; Wilder v. Ayers, 2 A D 2d 354, affd. 3 N Y 2d 725.) In this case there was more than the trivial and casual accommodation accorded as a social amenity in Wilder v. Ayers (supra). (Bubacz v. Horka, 11 A D 2d 594.) The question