Barton v. City of New York

15 Misc. 3d 504, 831 N.Y.S.2d 882, 2007 NY Slip Op 27096, 2007 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 780
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 7, 2007
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 15 Misc. 3d 504 (Barton v. City of New York) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barton v. City of New York, 15 Misc. 3d 504, 831 N.Y.S.2d 882, 2007 NY Slip Op 27096, 2007 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 780 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Jack M. Battaglia, J.

On the evening of February 6, 1997, plaintiff Joseph Barton and defendant Walter Rossler were at the bar of the Second Street Café in Suffolk County. Defendant Rossler was employed by the New York City Police Department, assigned as a detective with the 67th Precinct, and was carrying his department-issued firearm. As a result of circumstances somewhat in dispute, the weapon discharged, and Mr. Barton was shot, in his face. In this action, he seeks damages for his injury.

Plaintiffs verified complaint alleges six causes of action. His first cause of action alleges negligence on the part of defendant Rossler, and his second cause of action alleges negligence on the part of Larman Enterprises, Inc., doing business as Second Street Café. In the remaining four causes of action, plaintiff alleges negligence on the part of the City of New York/New York City Police Department in the training, hiring, and retention of defendant Rossler, and the City’s vicarious liability for Rossler’s alleged negligence.

Plaintiff has moved for an order striking the City’s answer “for failing to provide necessary court-ordered discovery.” The City has “cross-moved” pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (7) and 3212 for dismissal of the verified complaint and a cross claim for indemnification asserted against it by defendant Rossler. Plaintiff and the City have each opposed the other’s motion. Rossler submitted opposition to plaintiffs motion only, but did not appear on the adjourned return date.

As indicated, the circumstances surrounding the discharge of defendant Rossler’s weapon are somewhat in dispute. Plaintiff testified at a hearing pursuant to General Municipal Law § 50-h that he and Rossler were at the bar at the Second Street Café when the shooting occurred. He also testified:

“I observed what I believed was a firearm at the bar, and it was being outstretched in my general direction, and it looked like it was not in a situation that was safe, and I had moved to stabilize it a little bit, and I just remember being thrown to the floor.” (Transcript of 50-h hearing at 11.)

When plaintiff saw the firearm, it was being held by Rossler. [506]*506(See id.) Plaintiff testified to no further recollection about the circumstances of the shooting.

Defendant Rossler’s version of the shooting is found only in an affidavit that he submitted on a prior motion. He states: “[W]hile I was off-duty, plaintiff attempted to gain possession of my Department-issued firearm causing it to discharge and strike plaintiff.” (Affidavit of Walter Rossler 1t 3.) Rossler describes no other circumstances.

The City contends that “Plaintiff’s cause of action which seeks to cast the City in damages under the doctrine of respondeat superior must be dismissed because Detective Rossler was not acting in furtherance of his employer’s interests at the time of the subject incident.” (Affirmation in support of cross motion for dismissal/summary judgment and in opposition to plaintiffs motion to strike/compel at 4-8.)

“The doctrine of respondeat superior renders an employer vicariously fable for torts committed by an employee acting within the scope of his or her employment ... An employee’s actions fall within the scope of employment where the purpose in performing such actions is ‘to further the employer’s interest, or to carry out duties incumbent upon the employee in furthering the employer’s business’ . . . Conversely, where an employee’s actions are taken for wholly personal reasons, which are not job related, his or her conduct cannot be said to fall within the scope of employment.” (Beauchamp v City of New York, 3 AD3d 465, 466 [2d Dept 2004], quoting Stavitz v City of New York, 98 AD2d 529, 531 [1st Dept 1984].)

The City offers no direct evidence on whether, at the time of the shooting, Rossler was furthering his “employer’s business” or acting for “wholly personal reasons.” The City relies on the undisputed facts that the shooting occurred while Rossler was off duty and outside the City of New York, and its interpretation of the parties’ sworn statements as “establishing] that the subject incident arose solely from a personal altercation in a bar.” (See affirmation in support and in opposition If 21.)

First, it is clear that “neither the fact that [Rossler] was off duty at the time of the shooting nor the fact that he was then beyond the geographical area of his employment is dispositive of the issue of whether he was acting within the scope of his employment.” (See Mastroianni v Incorporated Vil. of Hempstead, 166 AD2d 560, 562 [2d Dept 1990].) “It is well settled [507]*507that a police officer’s jurisdiction is statewide and police officers are responsible for enforcing the law any time, anywhere in this state.” (Schilt v New York City Tr. Auth., 304 AD2d 189, 194 [1st Dept 2003]; see also Campos v City of New York, 195 Misc 2d 624, 626 [Sup Ct, NY County 2003].) Although the facts that Rossler was off duty and outside the city when the shooting occurred are not determinative on the issue, they are at the least material to its determination and the City’s attempt to make a prima facie showing on this motion.

Accepting the City’s characterization of the incident at issue, the authority that is closest factually is Bell v City of New York (137 NYS2d 104 [Sup Ct, NY County 1954], affd 285 App Div 1143 [1st Dept 1955]), where a bullet from an off-duty police officer’s gun was also discharged in a barroom under circumstances that were in dispute. Although the police officer testified that he did not draw his gun, “asserting that it became dislodged from its holster as he struggled to defend himself from an attack by another patron of the bar,” the court found that the officer did draw his gun. (See 137 NYS2d at 105.) The court also found that “[t]he gun was discharged while the officer and his adversary were struggling for its control,” killing “an innocent bystander having no part in the fracas.” (See id.)

On these facts, the court saw no basis for holding the City liable for the officer’s acts: “He was not on duty; he was not acting in the capacity of a police officer; he was a patron in the bar; he got into a dispute with another patron which ripened into physical combat, resulting in the fatal occurrence.” (Id.) The court’s conclusion is consistent with many others that refuse to find the City liable when the private disputes of its law enforcement officers result in harm. (See, for example, Campos v City of New York, 32 AD3d 287, 291-292 [1st Dept 2006]; Pungello v City of New York, 18 AD3d 216, 216 [1st Dept 2005]; White v Thomas, 12 AD3d 168, 168 [1st Dept 2004]; Seymour v Gateway Prods., 295 AD2d 278, 278 [1st Dept 2002]; Johnson v City of New York, 269 AD2d 359, 359-360 [2d Dept 2000].)

The difficulty here is that, despite the City’s assertion, neither plaintiff in his section 50-h testimony nor Rossler in his affidavit states that the shooting occurred as a result of a private dispute between them or between Rossler and a third person, nor does either testify to any circumstance that would suggest that Rossler was called upon to act as a law enforcement officer. The question then on this motion for summary judgment is whether the burden of coming forward with clearer evidence of such circumstances should be on the City or on plaintiff.

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Related

Barton v. City of New York
2020 NY Slip Op 05880 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2020)

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15 Misc. 3d 504, 831 N.Y.S.2d 882, 2007 NY Slip Op 27096, 2007 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 780, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barton-v-city-of-new-york-nysupct-2007.