Williams v. Bayley Seton Hosp.

• Decision Date: 26 December 2013
• Citation: 977 N.Y.S.2d 395,2013 N.Y. Slip Op. 08617,112 A.D.3d 917
• Parties: Michelle WILLIAMS, etc., appellant, v. BAYLEY SETON HOSPITAL, et al., respondents.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

112 A.D.3d 917
977 N.Y.S.2d 395
2013 N.Y. Slip Op. 08617

Michelle WILLIAMS, etc., appellant,
v.
BAYLEY SETON HOSPITAL, et al., respondents.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

Dec. 26, 2013.

[977 N.Y.S.2d 396]

Monaco & Monaco, LLP, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Frank A. Delle Donne of counsel), for appellant.

Bartlett, McDonough & Monaghan, LLP, Mineola, N.Y. (Robert G. Vizza of counsel), for respondents.

THOMAS A. DICKERSON, J.P., L. PRISCILLA HALL, JEFFREY A. COHEN, and ROBERT J. MILLER, JJ.

In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for personal injuries, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Richmond County (McMahon, J.), dated February 17, 2012, which granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.

ORDERED that the order is affirmed, with costs.

In January 2008, the plaintiff was admitted on an inpatient basis to a psychiatric unit of the defendant Baley Seton Hospital. During her stay, the plaintiff was allegedly assaulted by another patient The plaintiff commenced this action, inter alia, to recover damages for personal injuries allegedly inflicted on her by a fellow patient at the defendant Bayley Seton Hospital, asserting theories of recovery based upon, among others, negligence and medical malpractice. The defendants moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. In support of their motion, the defendants submitted an expert affidavit, although the plaintiff objected to the affidavit on the ground that the defendants failed to timely disclose their expert. In the order appealed from, the Supreme Court granted the defendants' motion, based, in part, on the defendants' expert's affidavit. The plaintiff appeals.

With regard to the plaintiff's allegations of simple negligence, “[a] hospital, like any other property owner, has a duty to protect persons lawfully present on its premises, including patients and visitors, from the reasonably foreseeable criminal or tortious acts of third persons” (Royston v. Long Is. Med. Ctr., Inc., 81 A.D.3d 806, 807, 917 N.Y.S.2d 253; see Sandra M. v. St. Luke's Roosevelt Hosp. Ctr., 33 A.D.3d 875, 878, 823 N.Y.S.2d 463). “A hospital also has a special duty ‘to safeguard the welfare of its patients, even from harm inflicted by third persons, measured by the capacity of the patient to provide for his or her own safety’ ” (Sandra M. v. St. Luke's Roosevelt Hosp. Ctr., 33 A.D.3d at 878, 823 N.Y.S.2d 463, quoting N.X. v. Cabrini Med. Ctr., 97...