Marilyn S. v. City of New York
| Decision Date | 30 November 1987 |
| Citation | 134 A.D.2d 583,521 N.Y.S.2d 485 |
| Parties | , 43 Ed. Law Rep. 324 MARILYN S. (Anonymous), et al., Respondents, v. The CITY OF NEW YORK, et al., Appellants. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Peter L. Zimroth, Corp. Counsel, New York City (Edward F.X. Hart and Margaret G. King, of counsel), for appellants.
Richard Frank, P.C., New York City (Kathleen Peratis, of counsel), for respondents.
Before MOLLEN, P.J., and RUBIN, KOOPER and SULLIVAN, JJ.
MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.
In a negligence action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc. resulting from a sexual assault in a public school facility, the defendants appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Lerner, J.), dated October 17, 1986, which is in favor of the plaintiff Marilyn S. in the principal sum of $1,500,000 and in favor of the plaintiff Jeffrey S. in the principal sum of $50,000 and against them, upon a jury verdict.
ORDERED that the judgment is reversed, on the law, without costs or disbursements, and the complaint is dismissed.
The plaintiff Marilyn S., a school teacher at a New York City high school, was sexually assaulted in the faculty ladies room by a male intruder on December 7, 1981. The room was ordinarily kept locked and the plaintiff entered it by using her own key. The assailant was never apprehended and there was no evidence as to how he had entered the second-story, windowless room. At trial, the plaintiffs sought to establish that Marilyn S.'s injuries had been proximately caused by the defendants' negligent failure, in their proprietary capacity as landlords, to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendants had maintained a system of distributing keys that was so inadequate and disorganized that keys were likely to fall into unauthorized hands, thereby making it foreseeable that such a violent intrusion and injury would occur. In support of their contention, the plaintiffs offered expert testimony that the school's key distribution and control system was inadequate, as well as the testimony of a police detective to the effect that the school principal, who was deceased at the time of trial, had told the detective on the day after the assault that he had heard rumors from students that school master keys were being obtained by students from a local hardware store. No evidence was presented concerning the school's response to the rumor or when the principal had heard it and no evidence was presented concerning any prior criminal incidents in the school. Moreover, neither Marilyn S. nor any of the other witnesses who were school employees, had heard of or had any knowledge of the alleged rumor regarding the keys. Following the trial, the jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs. The defendants now assert that there was insufficient evidence as a matter of law to support a finding of...
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