Sadow v. Radio City Prods. LLC

Summary

The Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed dismissal of Jan K. Sadow's personal-injury claims arising from a fall over a barricade outside Radio City Music Hall. The court held that the City of New York did not owe plaintiff a special duty and was not liable for discretionary pedestrian-traffic control decisions, while the Radio City defendants lacked ownership or special use of the NYPD barricade.

Holdings

1. The City was not liable because plaintiff did not adequately plead or establish that the City owed her a special duty through positive direction and control over a known and dangerous condition, a definite promise or assurance on which she relied, or affirmative conduct placing her in harm's way.
2. The City could not be held liable for the alleged negligence of its officers in deciding how to configure and place the barricades because the officers were performing the discretionary governmental function of controlling pedestrian traffic.
3. The Radio City defendants were entitled to dismissal and summary judgment because they did not own the barricade, lacked the ability to exercise control over it, and the NYPD barricade was not part of the sidewalk for purposes of Administrative Code of the City of New York § 7-210.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the City of New York could be held liable for plaintiff's injuries absent adequately pleaded or established facts showing that it owed plaintiff a special duty.
2. Whether the City's police officers' placement of pedestrian-control barricades constituted an affirmative creation of a dangerous condition or discretionary governmental traffic-control activity supporting municipal liability.
3. Whether the Radio City defendants could be liable for a sidewalk accident caused by an NYPD barricade that they did not own or control and that was not part of the sidewalk for purposes of Administrative Code of the City of New York § 7-210.

Disposition

affirmed