Bour v. 259 Bleecker LLC

• Decision Date: 12 March 2013
• Citation: 2013 N.Y. Slip Op. 01488,104 A.D.3d 454,961 N.Y.S.2d 98
• Parties: Elizabeth BOUR, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. 259 BLEECKER LLC, Defendant–Respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

104 A.D.3d 454

961 N.Y.S.2d 98

2013 N.Y. Slip Op. 01488

Elizabeth BOUR, Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.259 BLEECKER LLC, Defendant–Respondent.

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

March 12, 2013.

David Katz & Associates, LLP, New York (Salvatore J. Sciangula of counsel), for appellant.

Weiner, Millo, Morgan & Bonanno LLC, New York (Richard A. Walker of counsel), for respondent.

MAZZARELLI, J.P., ACOSTA, FREEDMAN, RICHTER, GISCHE, JJ.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Jane S. Solomon, J.), entered May 9, 2011, which granted defendant's motion to quash plaintiff's subpoenas duces tecum served on nonparties, and denied plaintiff's motion to strike defendant's answer for willful failure to produce discovery and to deem the subpoenas enforceable, unanimously affirmed, without costs. Order, same court and Justice, entered October 4, 2011, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, granted defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the claims for personal injury and punitive damages, denied plaintiff's cross motion for summary judgment, to compel discovery or alternatively to strike defendant's answer, and for leave to amend her bill of particulars, and granted defendant's motion to quash plaintiff's trial subpoenas served on nonparties, unanimously modified, on the law, to reinstate the claims for personal injury, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff submitted both testimonial and documentary evidence supporting her claim that there was a bedbug infestation in the apartment and that she sustained bedbug bites. The absence of any medical treatment for the bites, while significant to the value of the damages sought, does not mandate dismissing the claim for personal injury damages as a matter of law ( cf. Grogan v. Gamber Corp., 19 Misc.3d 798, 858 N.Y.S.2d 519 [Sup. Ct., N.Y. County 2008] ).

Plaintiff, however, failed to show that defendant's failure to maintain the property in a reasonably safe condition unreasonably endangered her physical safety or caused her to fear for her safety so as to sustain the claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress ( see Sheila C. v. Povich, 11 A.D.3d 120, 130, 781 N.Y.S.2d 342 [1st Dept. 2004] ). Further, defendant's leasing of the apartment to plaintiff while aware of a bedbug history does not rise to the level of outrageous conduct required to sustain a claim for infliction of emotional distress, especially since at the time this case was filed there was no legal obligation for landlords to give a prospective tenant notice of bedbug infestation history (Administrative Code of City of N.Y. § 27–2018.1) and defendant had been treating the condition before plaintiff moved in. For the same reason, we find that in renting the apartment defendant was not “morally culpable, or ... actuated by evil and reprehensible motives” so as to warrant punitive damages ( see Munoz v. Puretz, 301 A.D.2d 382, 384, 753 N.Y.S.2d 463 [1st Dept. 2003] [internal quotation marks omitted] ). Nor did defendant engage in pervasive or grave misconduct...