Opinion
October 1, 1998
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Bronx County (Kenneth Thompson, Jr., J.).
In this personal injury action involving allegations that plaintiff Augustine Ntim was shot and robbed by two armed assailants in the parking garage where he was employed, the IAS Court properly set aside the jury verdict in favor of plaintiffs since plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that defendant landlord knew, or had reason to know, of prior criminal activity upon the subject premises ( cf., Nallan v. Helmsley-Spear, Inc., 50 N.Y.2d 507, 519). In addition, we note that the trial evidence established conclusively that, contrary to plaintiffs' contention, there was no causal connection between any malfunction in the garage's security gate and the assault upon plaintiff. Even if the gate had been operating properly, plaintiff's assailants would still have gained entry to the garage and thus, the requisite causal link between any negligence and plaintiff's injury would be lacking ( see, Boltax v. Joy Day Camp, 67 N.Y.2d 617, 619).
We modify as indicated above only to conform the order to the IAS Court's decision upon defendant's motion to set aside the verdict, which decision sets forth the proper ground for the dismissal we affirm, namely, that plaintiffs failed to make out a prima facie case.
Concur — Milonas, J.P., Rosenberger, Ellerin and Andrias, JJ.