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Gladys v. 3156 Hull

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Mar 20, 2007
38 A.D.3d 360 (N.Y. App. Div. 2007)

Opinion

No. 549.

March 20, 2007.

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Howard R. Silver, J.), entered January 27, 2006, which, in an action for personal injuries sustained in a rape allegedly caused by inadequate building security, granted defendant landlord's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Decolator, Cohen DiPrisco, LLP, Garden City (David Stanton Gould of counsel), for appellants.

Downing Peck, P.C., New York (Ernest J. Peck of counsel), for respondent.

Before: Mazzarelli, J.P., Friedman, Buckley, Catterson and Malone, JJ.


The record shows that the assailant, pretending to be a plumber, approached and spoke to the infant plaintiff inside her apartment building on two occasions some two weeks before the rape; that she let him into her apartment on one of those occasions, as well as on the day of the rape, because she believed he was a plumber; and that the rape matched an identified citywide pattern in which the rapist pretended to be a plumber in order to gain access to apartments and rape the occupants. These facts suffice to make a prima facie showing that the infant plaintiff was targeted well in advance by a serial rapist, severing any causal connection between her injuries and defendant's alleged negligence in failing to repair a broken front door lock ( see Buckeridge v Broadie, 5 AD3d 298, 300 [2004]). Plaintiffs' response that a functioning front door lock would have deterred the rapist is "most unlikely" ( Cerda v 2962 Decatur Ave. Owners Corp., 306 AD2d 169, 169).


Summaries of

Gladys v. 3156 Hull

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Mar 20, 2007
38 A.D.3d 360 (N.Y. App. Div. 2007)
Case details for

Gladys v. 3156 Hull

Case Details

Full title:CYNTHIA B., an Infant, by Her Mother and Natural Guardian, GLADYS P., et…

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

Date published: Mar 20, 2007

Citations

38 A.D.3d 360 (N.Y. App. Div. 2007)
832 N.Y.S.2d 520

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