Brooklyn Law School v. Raybon, Inc.

143 Misc. 2d 237, 540 N.Y.S.2d 404, 1989 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 207
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 29, 1989
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 143 Misc. 2d 237 (Brooklyn Law School v. Raybon, Inc.) 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
Brooklyn Law School v. Raybon, Inc., 143 Misc. 2d 237, 540 N.Y.S.2d 404, 1989 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 207 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Stanley L. Sklar, J.

Defendants’ motion pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (5) and (7) to dismiss the amended complaint is granted to the extent of dismissing the second, fourth and eighth causes of action on consent, and dismissing the breach of implied warranty cause of action for lack of privity, with leave to replead, and is otherwise denied.

The original complaint in this action instituted in Kings County Supreme Court was served in June 1987. It sought to recover for the installation of dangerous asbestos upon the premises of Brooklyn Law School which hazard now has to be abated. In September 1987 defendants moved to dismiss the action for failure to state a claim. On October 23, 1987, Administrative Judge Milton Williams issued Administrative Transfer Order No. 276, which directed that "all asbestos [239]*239related cases in which Requests for Judicial Intervention have been filed, or are hereafter filed in the Supreme Court within the City of New York, be heard and disposed of by trial or other means in the Supreme Court First Judicial District, County of New York.” Accordingly, the Administrative Judges within the City of New York were directed to have all such pending actions transferred to Supreme Court, New York County, for appropriate assignment. Had the transfer been immediately effected then the motion would have been heard by this court and decided in accordance with the established precedent of City of New York v Keene Corp. (order dated Nov. 19, 1985 [Wallach, J.], affd 129 AD2d 1019), which upheld negligence and strict liability claims in an asbestos action similar to the instant one. Nonetheless, in December 1987, the Kings County Supreme Court Justice to whom this action was assigned (who was presumably personally unaware of the transfer order) heard oral argument on the application to dismiss the complaint. By order dated March 24, 1988 he decided the motion to dismiss and transferred the case to this court. The Kings County Justice found that there were no claims for negligence and strict liability, nor a separate action for punitive damages. Plaintiff was given leave to replead its warranty claims and its action for statutory liability.

Thereafter, in June 1988 the law school served the amended complaint that is the subject of this motion. The complaint asserts eight causes of action. The law school now concedes that the second, fourth and eighth causes of action must be dismissed.

Defendants argue that the third and fifth causes of action in negligence and strict liability, respectively, are barred under the doctrine of law of the case by the decision of the Kings County Justice. The law school argues that extraordinary circumstances are presented arising out of the late transfer of the action and the state of the law as reflected in City of New York v Keene Corp. (supra) which would indicate adherence to the law of the case to be inappropriate.

In Martin v City of Cohoes (37 NY2d 162, 165), the Court of Appeals stated that " 'law of the case’ is a rule of practice, an articulation of sound policy, that when an issue is judicially determined, that should be the end of the matter as far as Judges and courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction are concerned”. The doctrine of "law of the case” is not absolute and the court may in extraordinary circumstances disregard it. (Foley v Roche, 86 AD2d 887; Politi v Irvmar Realty Corp., 13 [240]*240AD2d 469.) Such extraordinary circumstances are presented here.

These asbestos-related matters are complex and protracted litigations generally involving numerous parties, complex and novel products liability issues and substantial damage claims. They have been placed before one Justice in the City of New York so that they may be more efficiently litigated on a coordinated basis, and to insure consistency in their handling.

When law of the case is to be ignored, "[t]he error sought to be corrected must, however, be so 'plain * * * [that it] would require [the] court to grant a reargument of a cause.’ ” (Foley v Roche, supra, at 887, citing Eaton v Alger, 47 NY 345, 348.) Here, it is apparent that the view of these asbestos cases in the First Department supports claims for negligence and strict liability on the facts presented herein (City of New York v Keene Corp., supra; cf., Trustees of Columbia Univ. v Mitchell/ Giurgola Assocs., 109 AD2d 449), and that reargument would have been successful.

Moreover, under the Individual Assignment System (IAS) CPLR 2221 has been amended to permit a second Judge to handle rearguments where there has been assignment under the court rules. (Billings v Berkshire Mut. Ins. Co., 133 AD2d 919; Ministry of Christ Church v Mallia, 129 AD2d 922; Dalrymple v Martin Luther King Community Health Center, 127 AD2d 69.) Administrative Order No. 276 is a special assignment under the court rules. (See, 22 NYCRR 202.3 [c] [2].) Thus, with the transfer this court could have entertained reargument and rendered a different conclusion from that of the Kings County Justice. This being so, the law of case doctrine has been to some extent eroded and rendered more flexible and realistic within the new court structure.

No purpose would be served here by strict adherence to law of the case. Letting the decision stand until review on appeal would contradict the law as expressed in City of New York v Keene (supra) and would only result in wasteful duplication of efforts.

Consequently, defendants’ application to dismiss the third and fifth causes of action for negligence and strict liability is denied.

Defendants urged in their papers that the first cause of action, which is denominated "restitution”, must be dismissed because it fails to state a cause of action and because it is time barred. Although denominated "restitution”, the law school’s [241]*241memorandum of law reveals that it has lumped together the concepts of indemnity and restitution. (See generally, City of New York v Keene Corp., 132 Misc 2d 745, affd 129 AD2d 1019, supra [counsel advised at an earlier conference that leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals was denied].) Defendants urge that the law school’s indemnity claim is inadequate because Brooklyn Law School, unlike the plaintiffs in Keene (supra), has neither the common-law parens patriae obligation to care for the minor school children in its charge, nor the statutory duty to inspect and develop plans to deal with asbestos under Education Law § 430 et seq., which applies only to elementary and secondary schools. The court does not agree. While it is true that the law school’s duty does not derive from the foregoing sources, as the owner of the building, it has the common-law duty to all those who enter, whether they be students, employees or visitors, to exercise "reasonable care under the circumstances whereby foreseeability shall be a measure of liability.” (Basso v Miller, 40 NY2d 233, 241 [1976]; see also, Block, Landlords Risk Asbestos Suits, NYLJ, June 15, 1988, at 11, col 3; Sitomer and Goldberg, Trends in Asbestos Litigation; Recovering the Cost of Abatement, NYLJ, Nov.

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Bluebook (online)
143 Misc. 2d 237, 540 N.Y.S.2d 404, 1989 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brooklyn-law-school-v-raybon-inc-nysupct-1989.