Summary
In Rodriguez v. Oak Point Mgt., Inc. (87 NY2d 931) the Court held that the building owner did not have a duty to protect a child who was shot 191 feet from the front of his aunt's apartment by a drug dealer because, as a result of the distance from the building, he was no different from a passerby whose relationship to the building was merely fortuitous.
Summary of this case from Saunders v. TaylorOpinion
Argued January 10, 1996
Decided February 8, 1996
Appeal from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the First Judicial Department, Alan J. Saks, J.
Jonathan R. Walsh, Elmsford, and William K. Capshaw for appellant.
Leonard W. Krouner, Albany, and Mullen Morris Lutzky, New York City (Joseph T. Mullen of counsel), for respondents.
Sullivan Liapakis, P.C., New York City (John M. Tomsky of counsel), for New York State Trial Lawyers' Association, amicus curiae.
MEMORANDUM.
The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed, with costs, defendant Oak Point Management's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint against it granted and the certified question answered in the negative.
Under the circumstances of this case, defendant had no duty to secure the front door of the residential apartment building it owned and operated in order to protect passersby from the threat of criminal actions by individuals engaging in drugrelated activity in or around the building ( see, Muniz v Flohern, Inc., 77 N.Y.2d 869; Waters v New York City Hous. Auth., 69 N.Y.2d 225). Although the infant plaintiff happened to be visiting one of the building's tenants, his position was no different from that of any other passerby at the time he was shot on the street some 191 feet from the from the front of the building. At that point, his relationship to a building tenant was a mere fortuity having nothing to do with the circumstances surrounding the shooting. Accordingly, defendant Oak Point Management should have been granted summary judgment dismissing the complaint against it.
Chief Judge KAYE and Judges SIMONS, TITONE, BELLACOSA, SMITH, LEVINE and CIPARICK concur in memorandum.
Order reversed, etc.