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Cooney v. Town of Oyster Bay

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jun 4, 1998
251 A.D.2d 364 (N.Y. App. Div. 1998)

Opinion

June 4, 1998

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Nassau County (O'Connell, J.).


Ordered that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs, the cross motion is granted, the complaint is dismissed insofar as asserted against the appellant, and the action against the remaining defendant is severed.

The plaintiff was attacked by the third-party defendant, Michael Kearney, while in a community park owned by the defendant Town of Oyster Bay. He thereafter commenced this action against, inter alia, the Town, alleging that it was negligent in failing to maintain the park in a reasonably safe condition. In the order appealed from, the Supreme Court, inter alia, denied the Town's cross motion for summary judgment. We now reverse.

A landowner has a duty to exercise reasonable care in maintaining its property in a reasonably safe condition (see, Basso v. Miller, 40 N.Y.2d 233; Burgess v. City of New York, 205 A.D.2d 656). This includes a duty to maintain minimal security measures in the face of foreseeable criminal acts by third persons when a landowner knows or has reason to know from past experiences that there is a likelihood of conduct on the part of third persons which is likely to endanger the safety of visitors (see, Nallan v. Helmsley-Spear, Inc., 50 N.Y.2d 507; Burgess v. City of New York, supra; Provenzano v. Roslyn Gardens Tenants Corp., 190 A.D.2d 718). Here, in response to the Town's proffer of a prima facie case for dismissal of the complaint, the plaintiff, inter alia, failed to raise a triable issue of fact that the Town was on notice of conduct on the part of third persons which was likely to endanger the safety of visitors to the park (see, Jacqueline S. v. City of New York, 81 N.Y.2d 288; Lauersdorf v. Supermarket Gen. Corp., 239 A.D.2d 319; Karp v. Saks Fifth Ave., 225 A.D.2d 1014). Thus, the complaint must be dismissed insofar as asserted against the Town.

Bracken, J. P., Ritter, Altman and McGinity, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Cooney v. Town of Oyster Bay

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jun 4, 1998
251 A.D.2d 364 (N.Y. App. Div. 1998)
Case details for

Cooney v. Town of Oyster Bay

Case Details

Full title:JAMES COONEY, Respondent, v. TOWN OF OYSTER BAY, Appellant, et al.…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Jun 4, 1998

Citations

251 A.D.2d 364 (N.Y. App. Div. 1998)
672 N.Y.S.2d 813

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