Summary
In Cerda v 2962 Decatur Ave. Owners Corp. (306 AD2d 169, 170 [1st Dept 2003]), also relied on by Roldan, the plaintiff was assaulted by a "team of assassins."
Summary of this case from Estate of Tayshana Murphy By Its Adm'x v. N.Y.C. Hous. Auth.Opinion
297
June 24, 2003.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Douglas McKeon, J.), entered November 14, 2001, which granted defendants' summary judgment motion dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Gregory Green, for plaintiff-appellant.
Vito M. DeStefano, for defendants-respondents.
Before: Buckley, P.J., Tom, Andrias, Williams, Friedman, JJ.
The motion court properly granted defendants-landlords summary judgment in this personal injury case. As in Rivera v. New York City Housing Authority ( 239 A.D.2d 114), the alleged proximate cause of the tenant's injuries, the landlord's negligence in failing to repair a broken front door lock thereby allowing the intruder-perpetrator's entry, is seriously undermined by strong evidence of the unforeseeable existence of a preconceived criminal conspiracy to murder the tenant, such that "it [is] most unlikely that any reasonable security measures would have deterred the criminal participants" (id. at 115 citing Tarter v. Schildkraut, 151 A.D.2d 414, lv denied 74 N.Y.2d 616). Here, the record shows that the tenant, an ex-drug dealer, was assaulted by a team of assassins which was waiting for him in the hallway outside his apartment at the exact time, in the early morning, that he arrived home from work, which team included at least a third member outside the building who coordinated with the attackers by walkie-talkie, and who made statements indicating that they were specifically targeting the tenant.
Plaintiff's reliance on Burgos v. Aqueduct Realty Corp. ( 92 N.Y.2d 544) is inapposite inasmuch as that case had no evidence of a criminal conspiracy to harm the injured party, not to mention one as carefully planned and executed as the one at bar.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.