Conway v. Board of Ed. of City of New York
| Decision Date | 04 February 1958 |
| Citation | 171 N.Y.S.2d 533,11 Misc.2d 162 |
| Parties | Bridget CONWAY, an infant, by Patrick Conway, her Guardian ad Litem and Patrick Conway, Plaintiffs, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF the CITY OF NEW YORK, Defendant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court |
Simon Schechter, New York City, for plaintiff. (Jay J. Lehrman, New York City, of counsel.)
Peter Campbell Brown, Corp. Counsel, New York City, for defendant. (William J. Ferrall, Brooklyn, of counsel.)
The infant plaintiff, while standing on a line in the school corridor which formed from the desk inside the office of the assistant principal and which extended out into the corridor, had her fingers caught in the door-jamb of a nearby classroom when she was thrown back by several unruly and scuffling children ahead of her on the line, just as the door of the classroom was being closed. The assistant principal was accepting lunch money from the pupils and had assigned a student to monitor the line both in and outside her office. The infant was injured while the monitor was inside the office. The pushing and scuffling on the corridor portion of the line occurred in the monitor's absence. The infant testified that the children on line were boisterous and out of hand on the day in question and on prior occasions, testimony which was contradicted by the assistant principal.
The jury apparently credited plaintiff's claim that lack of adequate supervision as to a foreseeable danger was the proximate cause of the infant's injuries and rendered a verdict for $2,500 for the infant, and of $75 for medical expenses. I am satisfied that the uncontroverted evidence amply establishes that the immediate and proximate physical cause of the infant's injuries consisted of the concurring circumstances of the infant being thrown back toward the door and the accidental shutting thereof. But the central issue of fact is not the physical forces which gave rise to the injuries, but the claimed lack of adequate supervision as being the proximate cause of such injuries. The verdict in favor of the plaintiffs on this score is clearly against the weight of the credible evidence and contrary to law.
True, negligence is a breach of duty and is 'relative to time, place and circumstance' (Caldwell v. Village of Island Park, 304 N.Y. 268, 107 N.E.2d 441, 443). Yet the neglect here claimed to constitute a breach of the duty of adequate general supervision, related to the time, place and...
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Connett v. Fremont County School Dist. No. 6, Fremont County
...277, 335 P.2d 709, 713.16 Woodsmall v. Mt. Diablo Unified School Dist., 188 Cal.App.2d 262, 10 Cal.Rptr. 447; and Conway v. Board of Education, 11 Misc.2d 162, 171 N.Y.S.2d 533.17 It is worthy of note in the summary-judgment context that while both this case and Fagan came here on appeal fr......
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...73 N.E.2d 263 (1947); Nestor v. City of New York, 28 Misc.2d 70, 211 N.Y.S.2d 975 (Sup.Ct.N.Y.1961); Conway v. Board of Education, etc., 11 Misc.2d 162, 171 N.Y.S.2d 533 (Sup.Ct.N.Y.1958); Wright v. City of San Bernardino High School Dist., 121 Cal.App.2d 342, 263 P.2d 25 (1953); Taylor v. ......
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...times. Woodsmall v. Mt. Diablo Unified School Dist., 188 Cal.App.2d 262, 10 Cal.Rptr. 447 (1st DCA 1961); Conway v. Board of Education, 11 Misc.2d 162, 171 N.Y.S.2d 533 (Sup.Ct. 1958); Fagan v. Summers, 498 P.2d 1227 (Wyo. 1972). This issue was addressed in Morris v. Ortiz, 103 Ariz. 119, 4......
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Morris v. Ortiz
...In reversing a judgment in favor of a plaintiff against the Board of Education of the City of New York, Conway v. Board of Education of City of New York, 11 Misc.2d 162, 171 N.Y.S.2d 533, under the factual situation that the plaintiff had her fingers caught in a door jamb and was thrown bac......