Opinion
March 19, 1996
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Bronx County (Barry Salman, J.).
Given the disclosure yet to be conducted in this wrongful death action arising from the fatal injuries sustained by the decedent during the course of a robbery in her apartment in a housing project owned and operated by defendant, assertions that the perpetrators gained entry to the decedent's apartment building through the lobby doors, the locks of which were allowed to remain inoperative for a long time, are sufficient to preclude summary judgment at this juncture ( see, Jacqueline S. v City of New York, 81 N.Y.2d 288, 295). Especially where the alleged perpetrators have yet to be prosecuted, a preliminary indication that some of them were cotenants, and thus lawfully on the premises, is insufficient either to negate the possibility of a nexus between the attackers' mode of entry and defendant's maintenance of the building ( cf., Edmonds v New York City Hous. Auth. 224 A.D.2d 191), or to establish that defendant owed no duty to protect the decedent from the attackers ( compare, Simms v St. Nicolas Ave. Hotel Co., 187 A.D.2d 373, lv denied 81 N.Y.2d 704, citing Firpi v New York City Hous. Auth., 175 A.D.2d 858, lv denied 78 N.Y.2d 864). We have considered defendant's other contentions and find them to be without merit.
Concur — Murphy, J.P., Milonas, Rosenberger, Ross and Mazzarelli, JJ.