Summary
This Appellate Division decision reverses a trial court order denying the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department's motion for summary judgment in a negligence action brought under the Child Victims Act. The court held that the department's security and surveillance decisions at a jail facility constituted a governmental function rather than a proprietary one. Consequently, the plaintiff was required to establish a special duty owed by the municipality, which the defendant successfully demonstrated did not exist. The amended complaint was therefore dismissed.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the sheriff's department was acting in a governmental function, requiring the plaintiff to show a special duty for municipal liability.
- Whether summary judgment was proper on the amended complaint.
Holdings
- The court held that the sheriff's department was acting in a governmental (police protection) function, so the plaintiff must demonstrate a special duty, which he failed to do.
- Summary judgment was proper because the plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact as to the existence of a special duty.
Key quotations
“"When a negligence claim is asserted against a municipality, the first issue for a court to decide is whether the municipal entity was engaged in a proprietary function or acted in a governmental capacity at the time the claim arose"” (at 2)
“"Accordingly, the specific acts or omissions at issue here involved a governmental function. ... the plaintiff was required to demonstrate that the municipality owed him a 'special duty'"” (at 3)
Factual background
Michael Neary alleged that his neighbor, corrections officer Robert Weis, sexually abused him from age 11 into adulthood, with some abuse occurring in the jail parking lot or a locked bathroom. The sheriff's department provided security for the fenced parking lot and the facility.
Procedural history
The plaintiff filed suit under the Child Victims Act in July 2020. An amended complaint alleging negligence against the sheriff's department was filed in March 2021. The defendant moved for summary judgment; the Supreme Court, Suffolk County denied the motion on July 12, 2023. The defendant appealed.
Remand instructions
Grant the defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the amended complaint.