In Kirkland v. New York City Housing Authority, 236 A.D.2d 170 (1st Dept. 1997), a case heavily relied upon by ITT, the court distinguished between claims based on negligence and claims based on design defects. In that case the court stated that, whereas the product in question itself would be the best and most conclusive evidence of any design defect, the existence of any such defect is a factual issue that may be proven by circumstantial evidence. The Kirkland court, however, did dismiss claims based on negligence because that issue could not be resolved without an inspection of the actual product.