Opinion
June 30, 1986
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (Kassoff, J.).
Judgment affirmed, with costs.
The facts in the instant action are undisputed. A sudden and unexpected altercation in a cocktail lounge of an inn between the plaintiff and another patron resulted in the plaintiff's being pushed into a shelf which held empty glasses that had been placed there by patrons, thereby resulting in injury to his left hand and arm. The sole issue is whether or not the plaintiff established a prima facie case of negligence against the owner of the cocktail lounge.
There is no legal duty to protect against an occurrence which is extraordinary in nature and, as such, would not suggest itself to a reasonably careful and prudent person as one which should be guarded against (see, McKinney v. New York Consol. R.R. Co., 230 N.Y. 194). An innkeeper is required to exercise reasonable care in protecting patrons from injury arising from reasonably anticipated causes. However, an unexpected altercation between patrons which results in injury is not a situation which could reasonably be expected to be anticipated or prevented. Accordingly, although innkeepers are required to exercise reasonable care in the protection of their patrons, they cannot be held to be insurers of the safety of those patrons (see, Kuzmack v. Walsh, 8 Misc.2d 895).
Further, although proximate cause and foreseeability usually pose questions for the trier of fact, the conceded facts make this case "appropriate for the exercise of the trial court's screening function" (Sheehan v. City of New York, 40 N.Y.2d 496, 502; Harbin v. Harbin, 218 N.Y.S.2d 308, affd 16 A.D.2d 696). As a matter of law, the altercation was the sole proximate cause of the injuries and the presence of the shelf and glasses merely furnished the condition for the event's occurrence and was not one of the causes of those injuries (see, Sheehan v. City of New York, supra). Lazer, J.P., Mangano, Gibbons and Bracken, JJ., concur.