Barnes v. State

• Decision Date: 10 December 2020
• Docket Number: 526821
• Citation: 133 N.Y.S.3d 921 (Mem),189 A.D.3d 1781
• Parties: Anthony BARNES, Appellant, v. STATE of New York, Respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

189 A.D.3d 1781

133 N.Y.S.3d 921 (Mem)

Anthony BARNES, Appellant,

v.STATE of New York, Respondent.

526821

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.

Calendar Date: October 21, 2020

Decided and Entered: December 10, 2020

Anthony Barnes, Beacon, appellant pro se.

Letitia James, Attorney General, Albany (Kate H. Nepveu of counsel), for respondent.

Before: Egan Jr., J.P., Mulvey, Aarons, Pritzker and Colangelo, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Mulvey, J.

Appeal from a judgment of the Court of Claims (McCarthy, J.), entered March 15, 2018, upon a decision of the court in favor of defendant.

Claimant, a prison inmate, commenced this claim alleging that correction officers assaulted and used excessive force against him, and that defendant's medical personnel failed to treat his injuries in an appropriate and timely manner. Following a trial, the Court of Claims dismissed the claim, finding that claimant failed to establish by a preponderance of the credible evidence that the correction officers assaulted or used excessive physical force against him or that claimant's medical care was inadequate or inappropriate. Claimant appeals.

We affirm. When reviewing a nonjury verdict, this Court has broad authority to independently review the probative weight of the evidence, but we generally defer to the trial court's credibility determinations and factual findings, as that court had the opportunity to observe the witnesses (see Evans v. State of New York, 130 A.D.3d 1352, 1353, 14 N.Y.S.3d 226 [2015], lv denied 26 N.Y.3d 910, 2015 WL 6457230 [2015] ; Shon v. State of New York, 75 A.D.3d 1035, 1036, 906 N.Y.S.2d 642 [2010] ). At trial, claimant and two correction officers testified about the incident that allegedly resulted in claimant's injuries, and 46 exhibits were admitted into evidence. Upon our independent review of the record, and accepting the Court of Claims' credibility determinations that favored the correction officers, we conclude that claimant failed to establish that the correction officers' use of force during the incident was "unreasonable or excessive under the circumstances or in violation of any policy or procedure of defendant" ( Bush v. State of New York, 57 A.D.3d 1066, 1067, 868 N.Y.S.2d 393 [2008] ; see Shirvanion v. State of New York, 64 A.D.3d 1113, 1114–1115, 883 N.Y.S.2d 639 [2009] ; Davis v. State of New York, 203 A.D.2d 234, 234, 612 N.Y.S.2d 881 [1994] ; see also Correction Law § 137[5] ; 7 NYCRR 251–1.2 [d] ).

As to claimant's other cause of action, "[r]egardless of whether a claim is characterized as sounding in negligence or medical malpractice, where medical issues are not within the ordinary experience and knowledge of lay persons, expert medical opinion is required to establish that defendant's alleged negligence or deviation from an accepted standard of care caused or contributed to the claimant's injuries" ( DeMaille v. State of New York, 166 A.D.3d 1405, 1406–1407, 89 N.Y.S.3d 403 [2018] [internal quotation marks, brackets and citations omitted]; see Knight v. State of New York, 127 A.D.3d 1435, 1435, 6 N.Y.S.3d 807 [2015], appeal dismissed 25 N.Y.3d 1212, 16 N.Y.S.3d 506, 37 N.E.3d 1148 [2015] ). Here, expert proof was required to establish the accepted standard of care under the circumstances, whether the treatment rendered to claimant deviated from that standard and whether any deviation caused his injuries (see Knight v. State of New York...