Chirieleison v. City of New York
| Decision Date | 06 October 1975 |
| Citation | 373 N.Y.S.2d 361,49 A.D.2d 873 |
| Parties | Ralph CHIRIELEISON, Respondent, v. The CITY OF NEW YORK, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
W. Bernard Richard, Corp. Counsel, New York City (Bernard Abel and L. Kevin Sheridan, New York City, of counsel), for appellant.
Pops & Estrin, P.C., New York City (Abraham Werfel, Jamaica, of counsel), for respondents.
Before RABIN, Acting P.J., and HOPKINS, CHRIST, MUNDER and SHAPIRO, JJ.
MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.
Appeal by defendant, as limited by its brief, from so much of a judgment of Supreme Court, Kings County, entered April 12, 1973, as is in favor of plaintiff and against defendant for $30,000, plus costs, upon (1) a jury verdict for plaintiff upon his cause for false arrest and (2) another jury verdict for plaintiff, after a separate trial of the issue of damages, of $15,000 for compensatory damages and $15,000 for punitive damages.
Judgment modified, on the law, by setting aside the award of $15,000 for punitive damages and reducing the total recovery to $15,000 plus costs. As so modified, judgment affirmed insofar as appealed from, without costs.
The trial court's instruction to the jury that the arrest of plaintiff was illegal as a matter of law was correct under the law existing in 1964 (cf. Code Crim.Pro., § 177 () and former Penal Law, §§ 2, 722; L.1881, ch. 676, as amd. with Code Crim.Pro., § 177 (); and present Penal Law, §§ 10.00, 240.20; see, also, People v. Marsh, 46 Misc.2d 777, 260 N.Y.S.2d 893; cf. People v. Williams, 25 N.Y.2d 86, 302 N.Y.S.2d 780, 250 N.E.2d 201; People v. Dreares, 15 A.D.2d 204, 221 N.Y.S.2d 819, affd. 11 N.Y.2d 906, 228 N.Y.S.2d 467, 182 N.E.2d 812).
Admission of testimony of plaintiff's physical injuries inflicted by the arresting officers and by himself, on the question of damages, was proper (Prosser, Law of Torts (4th ed.), p. 43; cf. Dunn v. City of New York, 23 A.D.2d 660, 257 N.Y.S.2d 29).
Assuming that in a proper case a punitive damage award may be made against a governmental agency (Hayes v. State of N.Y., 80 Misc.2d 498, 363 N.Y.S.2d 986, and cases cited therein), no facts were shown in this case to indicate that the City of New York was wanton or reckless in allowing the arresting police officer to serve on its police force or in failing to discipline him after proceedings before the Civilian Review Board. Accordingly, we...
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