Summary
The Appellate Division, Second Department reversed an order dismissing Berna Lee's complaint against a nursing facility and related defendants arising from her mother's COVID-19 illness and death. The court held that the defendants' submissions did not conclusively establish entitlement to immunity under the Emergency or Disaster Treatment Protection Act and that the complaint adequately alleged gross negligence.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether repeal of the Emergency or Disaster Treatment Protection Act applied retroactively to conduct occurring while the Act was in effect.
- Whether the defendants' evidentiary submissions conclusively established that all requirements for EDTPA immunity were satisfied.
- Whether the complaint adequately alleged conduct constituting gross negligence, for which EDTPA immunity would not apply.
- Whether the complaint should have been dismissed under CPLR 3211(a).
Holdings
- The repeal of the Emergency or Disaster Treatment Protection Act did not apply retroactively to the defendants' alleged conduct.
- The defendants were not entitled to dismissal because their evidentiary submissions failed to establish conclusively that all three statutory requirements for EDTPA immunity were met.
- The complaint adequately alleged conduct constituting gross negligence.
- The complaint should not have been dismissed because the defendants did not conclusively establish that the plaintiff had no cause of action, and the allegations supported cognizable negligence and gross-negligence theories.
Key quotations
“Generally, on a motion to dismiss a complaint pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(7) for failure to state a cause of action, the complaint is afforded a liberal construction, the allegations are accepted as true, the plaintiff is accorded the benefit of every possible favorable inference, and the court determines whether the facts as alleged fit within any cognizable legal theory” (*1)
“However, the defendants' evidentiary submissions failed to establish conclusively that the three requirements for immunity under the EDTPA were met with respect to the alleged care of the decedent and, therefore, failed to establish that the plaintiff has no causes of action against them” (*2)
Factual background
The decedent resided at Sapphire Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing of Central Queens, LLC, from January 2018 until April 2020, when she was transferred to a hospital. She tested positive for COVID-19 and died two months later. Her daughter, individually and as administrator of the decedent's estate, alleged that negligence and gross negligence in the decedent's care contributed to the harm.
Procedural history
The plaintiff commenced an action after her mother, a resident of Sapphire, contracted COVID-19 and died. The Supreme Court, Queens County, granted the defendants' motion to dismiss, concluding that the defendants were immune under the Emergency or Disaster Treatment Protection Act and that the complaint did not adequately allege gross negligence. The Appellate Division reversed and denied the motion.
Remand instructions
The order granting the defendants' motion to dismiss is reversed, with costs, and the defendants' CPLR 3211(a) motion is denied.