Langer v. City of New York
| Decision Date | 05 February 1958 |
| Citation | 171 N.Y.S.2d 390,9 Misc.2d 1002 |
| Parties | Eileen LANGER and Morris Squire, Plaintiffs, v. The CITY OF NEW YORK, Defendant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court |
Wilzin & Halperin, New York City (Isidore Halpern, Arnold I. Brown, Solomon Granett, New York City, of counsel, Jerome Heffer, New York City, trial counsel), for plaintiffs.
Peter Campbell Brown, New York City (John J. Lee, of counsel), for defendant.
The plaintiff, Eileen Langer, formerly Eileen Squire, now married, was, at the time of the occurrence herein, an infant of 17 years. She was assaulted by an unknown man while a passenger in the subway system, then owned and operated by the defendant, City of New York.
On Sunday, September 10, 1950, the plaintiff alighted from a subway train at the 175th Street station of the Independent Concourse line. Alone, she was followed by a man in the underpass that leads from the southbound platform to the turnstile exit close to the street stairway. The attack took place near the turnstile which is at the south end of the station. The change booth nearby was 'chained up'; no one was in attendance. Another change booth (attended) and turnstile were at the other, north, end. She was bludgeoned and battered about her head and body; miraculously, she has made a good recovery.
Plaintiff's chief contention: The defendant failed to properly exercise the police power with which it is invested for the protection of its passengers against such danger and violence which might reasonably be anticipated, or naturally expected to occur, in light of the pertinent circumstances. There is no doubt that such a duty is owed to its passengers and users, no less to the plaintiff herein.
I have evaluated the circumstances, attested by the credible evidence, so as to ascertain a breach, if any; and, if so, its proximate relationship to the occurrence and the injuries sustained. The conclusion is reached that the defendant omitted no reasonably expected protective safeguard in the vicinity of the place involved which would constitute actionable breach. To declare otherwise would fix an unreasonable imposition upon the defendant and render defendant an insurer of the plaintiff's safety.
While, as plaintiff contends, episodes had occurred in the station, recently prior to the instant happening, which showed the underpass as the scene of somewhat similar assaults, nevertheless, we must be mindful that criminal acts...
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