Entler v. Koch

85 A.D.3d 1098, 928 N.Y.S.2d 297
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJune 28, 2011
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 85 A.D.3d 1098 (Entler v. Koch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Entler v. Koch, 85 A.D.3d 1098, 928 N.Y.S.2d 297 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for personal injuries, the defendant Boy Scouts of America appeals, as limited by its notice of appeal and brief, from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Pines, J.), dated May 4, 2010, as denied that branch of its motion which was for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and the demand for punitive damages insofar as asserted against it, and the defendant Robert Koch separately appeals, as limited by his notice of appeal and brief, from so much of the same order as denied those branches of his cross motion which were for summary judgment dismissing the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and ninth causes of action and the demand for punitive damages insofar as asserted against him.

Ordered that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with one bill of costs, that branch of the motion of the defendant Boy Scouts of America which was for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and the demand for punitive damages insofar as asserted against it and those branches of the cross motion of the defendant Robert Koch which were for summary judgment dismissing the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, [1099]*1099sixth, and ninth causes of action and the demand for punitive damages insofar as asserted against him are granted.

The plaintiff, Kenneth Entler, as the father and natural guardian of Brian Entler (hereinafter the infant), commenced this action to recover, among other things, damages for personal injuries sustained by the infant. The complaint alleged that the infant was a member of Boy Scout Troop 125, which was owned and operated by the Suffolk County Council, Boy Scouts of America, Inc., sued herein as Suffolk County Council, Boy Scouts of America (hereinafter the Suffolk Council), a not-for-profit corporation registered in New York. The complaint further alleged that the Suffolk Council acted as agent for the defendant Boy Scouts of America (hereinafter the BSA), a Congressionally chartered corporation headquartered in Texas, which allegedly controlled “all key aspects of the operation” of the Suffolk Council.

The complaint stated that, in the summer of 2002, the infant was a counselor-in-training at a summer camp, located in Suffolk County and operated by the Suffolk Council, known as the “Baiting Hollow Scout Camp” (hereinafter Baiting Hollow). The defendant Eric Koch (hereinafter the youth counselor) was a boy scout employed by the Suffolk Council as a counselor at Baiting Hollow. The complaint alleged that Eric Koch’s father, the defendant Robert Koch (hereinafter Koch), was the Commissioner of the Suffolk Council, and responsible for supervising all of the boy scout troops which constituted the Suffolk Council.

The complaint alleged that, on July 27, 2002, a contingent of boy scouts from the Suffolk Council, including the infant and the youth counselor, traveled to Indiana to attend a national boy scout conference. In addition to 15 scouts, the contingent consisted of seven adult leaders, including Koch. The complaint specified that, while he was on the trip, the infant was entrusted to the care of Koch and the other adult leaders of the Suffolk Council. The complaint further alleged that the infant and the youth counselor shared rooms during the course of the trip, and that the youth counselor sexually assaulted the infant in their room on multiple occasions. As a result of these alleged attacks, the infant allegedly suffered physical, emotional, and psychological injuries. The complaint also sought punitive damages.

The complaint asserted eight causes of action against Koch and seven causes of action against the BSA. Each of these causes of action was premised on various theories of negligence. In addition, the complaint asserted causes of action against, among others, the Suffolk Council, an employee of the Suffolk Council, [1100]*1100a volunteer who worked for the Suffolk Council, and the youth counselor. Only those portions of the complaint asserted against Koch and the BSA are at issue on this appeal.

Koch cross-moved for, among other things, summary judgment dismissing the complaint and the demand for punitive damages insofar as asserted against him. By separate motion, the BSA moved for, among other things, summary judgment dismissing the complaint and the demand for punitive damages insofar as asserted against it.

In an order dated May 4, 2010, the Supreme Court, inter alia, granted that branch of Koch’s cross motion which was for summary judgment dismissing the tenth cause of action insofar as asserted against him, and otherwise denied his cross motion. In the same order, the Supreme Court also denied the BSA’s motion in its entirety. Koch and the BSA appeal. We reverse the order insofar as appealed from.

Contrary to the plaintiff’s contention, Koch demonstrated that he is statutorily immune from liability. The Federal Volunteer Protection Act (42 USC § 14501 et seq.), was enacted to “provide certain protections from liability abuses related to volunteers serving nonprofit organizations and governmental entities” (42 USC § 14501 [b]; see Momans v St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy, Inc., 2000 WL 33976543, 2000 US Dist LEXIS 5129 [ND 111 2000]). It provides, in pertinent part, that “no volunteer of a nonprofit organization . . . shall be liable for harm caused by an act or omission of the volunteer on behalf of the organization . . . if . . . the volunteer was acting within the scope of the volunteer’s responsibilities in the nonprofit organization ... at the time of the act or omission . . . [and] the harm was not caused by willful or criminal misconduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of the individual harmed by the volunteer” (42 USC § 14503 [a]; see Lomando v United States, 2011 WL 1042900, 2011 US Dist LEXIS 28116 [D NJ 2011]).

Koch established, prima facie, his entitlement to judgment as a matter of law dismissing the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and ninth causes of action insofar as asserted against him by demonstrating that he was a volunteer of a nonprofit organization, and that the negligence alleged in the complaint occurred while he was acting within the scope of his responsibilities in that organization (see 42 USC § 14503 [a]; Foti v Gerlach, 2008 US Dist LEXIS 36195 [D SD 2008]). In opposition, the plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact. Contrary to the plaintiffs contention, there was no evidence that the infant was [1101]*1101harmed by “willful or criminal misconduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of the individual harmed by the volunteer” (42 USC § 14503 [a]; see Foti v Gerlach, 2008 US Dist LEXIS 36195 [D SD 2008]). Koch also established, prima facie, that the youth counselor’s alleged acts could not have been reasonably anticipated (see Brandy B. v Eden Cent. School Dist., 15 NY3d 297, 302 [2010]; Hansen v Bath & Tennis Mar. Corp., 73 AD3d 699, 700-701 [2010]), and that Koch did not know or have reason to know of the youth counselor’s alleged propensity for the conduct which caused the injury (see Shor v Touch-N-Go Farms, Inc., 83 AD3d 927 [2011]; Doe v Rohan, 17 AD3d 509, 510 [2005]; Kenneth R. v Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, 229 AD2d 159, 161 [1997], cert denied 522 US 967 [1997]). In opposition, the plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact as to whether Koch breached any duty owed to the infant (see Alvarez v Prospect Hosp.,

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Bluebook (online)
85 A.D.3d 1098, 928 N.Y.S.2d 297, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/entler-v-koch-nyappdiv-2011.