Trott v. Merit Dept. Store
Decision Date | 31 January 1985 |
Citation | 106 A.D.2d 158,484 N.Y.S.2d 827 |
Parties | Charles TROTT, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MERIT DEPARTMENT STORE, located at Hudson Plaza, and Gary L. Bashor, Defendants-Respondents. |
Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Martin S. Rothman, New York City, of counsel (Richard Godosky and Alyne I. Diamond, New York City, with him on the brief; Weiss, Molod, Berkowitz & Godosky and Seligson, Rothman & Rothman, New York City, attorneys), for defendant-respondent Merit.
Michael W. Kirshon, Poughkeepsie, of counsel (Perry Satz, P.C., Poughkeepsie, attorney), for defendant-respondent Bashor.
Terry D. Horner, Poughkeepsie, of counsel (Myra I. Packman, Poughkeepsie, on the brief; Meiselman, Farber, Stella & Eberz, P.C., Poughkeepsie, attorneys), for plaintiff-appellant.
Before SANDLER, J.P., and ASCH, FEIN, LYNCH and MILONAS, JJ.
It is essentially undisputed that on December 14, 1976, at approximately 9:00 p.m., defendant Bashor, a security guard employed by defendant Merit, observed plaintiff stealing property from a woman in the shopping mall. He chased the plaintiff, shouted warnings, fired once up in the air, shouted another warning and then discharged his shotgun to the ground, hitting plaintiff in the back. Plaintiff has allegedly been rendered a paraplegic as a result of the injuries he sustained.
Plaintiff commenced this action against Bashor and Merit by service of a summons on or about December 19, 1977, and service of a verified complaint on or about January 31, 1978, which contained two causes of action. The first alleged that on December 14, 1976, Bashor "negligently assaulted" plaintiff while acting within the scope of his authority as an employee of Merit. The second alleged that defendant maliciously assaulted plaintiff.
After answering, Merit moved for leave to amend its answer to include a statute of limitations defense to the action. Special Term granted this motion and "in the interestof justice" granted plaintiff leave to amend his complaint. On August 20, 1982, plaintiff served an amended complaint adding a third cause of action against defendant Merit for negligently hiring and retaining Bashor because of prior police and employment records which allegedly indicated violent tendencies. Both defendants served amended answers asserting a statute of limitations defense to the action. After the second cause of action in the amended complaint had been dismissed as against Bashor on statute of limitations grounds, both defendants moved for dismissal of the complaint on the same grounds. In an order dated May 3, 1983, Special Term denied defendant Merit's motion to dismiss the complaint but granted defendant Bashor's cross-motion to dismiss. Upon reargument, Special Term reiterated that the entire complaint was dismissed as to defendant Bashor and dismissed the first two causes of action against Merit. The appeal herein is from this order.
Special Term properly treated plaintiff's first cause of action for "negligent assault" as an assault, governed by the one-year statute of limitations (CPLR 215) and not the three-year negligence statute of limitations (CPLR 214).
Plaintiff asserts that the circumstances present a question of fact whether Bashor's actions constituted intentional conduct or negligent behavior and further, that Bashor did not act with the requisite intent for assault since he fired at the ground. However, it has been said: (Prosser and Keeton, Torts, 5th ed., § 10, p 46).
The Restatement of the Law, Torts 2d, § 16, states in pertinent part at pages 27-28:
Thus, in an action to recover damages for assault founded on bodily contact, the plaintiff is not required to show defendant intended physically to injure him, nor that he intended to cause specific injuries resulting from the contact (Masters v. Becker, 22 A.D.2d 118, 254 N.Y.S.2d 633).
The allegations of the complaint do not even assert a cause of action for negligence upon the facts herein....
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