Hamburger v. Cornell University

99 Misc. 564
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedApril 15, 1917
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 99 Misc. 564 (Hamburger v. Cornell University) 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
Hamburger v. Cornell University, 99 Misc. 564 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1917).

Opinion

Van Kirk, J.

This is a demurrer to the complaint on the ground that it does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. The complaint attempts to state a cause of action in negligence as follows: The defendant is a domestic corporation; in October, 1915, the plaintiff went to Cornell University, paid the matriculation fee of five dollars and the infirmary fee of three dollars, entering a course in the home economics department, which included a course or branch [565]*565called Chemistry One; she paid a laboratory fee of fifteen dollars and became a student in the university, taking the course Chemistry One; all the required chemicals and apparatus were furnished by the university and the professors and instructors were employed by the university; as a student she was entitled to the benefits and privileges of the university; in the afternoon of January 12,1916, pursuing her work in Chemistry One, she was required to perform an experiment known as experiment 88, described in the text book then used, which consisted of combining or mixing two grams of mercuric sulphide with two grams of calcium oxide and heating the mixture in a glass tube, closed at one end; the defendant furnished the chemicals to the students in bottles bearing labels intended to show the contents thereof, from which bottles the students helped themselves to the necessary quantities; plaintiff took two grams from a bottle labeled calcium oxide, or powdered lime, but found no bottle labeled mercuric sulphide; pursuant to instructions she went to the stock room, where the attendant, a boy about fifteen years old, in charge of dispensing chemicals to students, and upon her request, gave the plaintiff two grams of some red chemical powder upon a piece of paper, which plaintiff believed was mercuric sulphide; plaintiff returned to her laboratory desk, mixed the two substances in a mortar, producing a mixture of reddish color; plaintiff, not knowing how to seal one end of the tube, asked Mr. Lake, the instructor, to seal it; Mr. Lake took the glass, sealed one end of it and handed it back to the plaintiff with instructions to put the powder into the tube; plaintiff put the mixture in the sealed tube, the instructor telling plaintiff it was not necessary to use all the mixture, watched her as she put the mixture in, told when she had enough in the tube; plaintiff then, according [566]*566to instructions, subjected the mixture to heat from a gas flame supplied by defendant as part of the laboratory equipment and in accordance with the written directions contained in the text book and upon the bulletin board in the laboratory and the verbal instructions of the instructor, whereupon the mixture exploded with great force, causing the injuries complained of.

The facts alleged are admitted, the conclusions of law are not.

The defendant contends that Cornell University is an eleemosynary institution and is exempt from liability in an action brought by an enrolled student against the university on account of the negligence of one of the instructors.

The court upon demurrer may take judicial cognizance of a public statute, under which certain legal presumptions arise. Long Island R. R. Co. v. City of New York, 199 N. Y. 303. By the Land Grant Act (Public Laws U. S., 1862, chap. 30, §§ 4, 5) the federal government set aside to each state moneys from the sale of public land, providing that it shall be invested and constitute a perpetual fund, the capital of which shall remain forever undiminished and the interest of which shall remain inviolably appropriated by each state to the endowment and maintenance of a college where the leading objects shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and mechanic arts in such manner as the state legislatures may provide. Any portion of the annual fund or interest lost by any contingency shall be replaced by the state, so that the funds shall remain forever undiminished.

The state of New York accepted the above gift, subject to the trust; and, after transferring the trust to [567]*567the People’s College, chartered Cornell University for the express purpose of carrying out this trust. Laws of 1863, chap. 20; Laws of 1865, chap. 585; Laws of 1880, chap. 317; Laws of 1891, chap. 56; Education Law, §§ 1120-1129.

Cornell University is an educational institution, including various departments or colleges, one of which is the Agricultural college. It is supported by the above funds from the United States and by funda from the state of New York and by other endowments and gifts. It is also permitted to receive and does receive certain fees for tuition and other ends, ah of which moneys are devoted to the educational purposes of the college.

In Webster’s International Dictionary eleemosynary is defined: (1) “ Relating or devoted to charity, alms or almsgiving*;” (2) Given in charity or alms; having the nature of alms.” Eleemosynary and charitable are in the law interchangeable. 10 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law, 895. It is a settled rule of law that a charitable institution is not liable for the negligence of its physicians and nurses in the treatment of patients, upon two grounds: first, implied waiver. One who accepts the benefit of a charity enters into a relation which exempts one’s benefactor from liability for the negligence of his servants in administering the charity. The second ground of the exemption is the relation subsisting between a hospital and the physicians who serve it. It is said that this relation is not one of master and servant, but that the physician occupies the position, so to speak, of an independent contractor. The hospital remains exempt, although the patient makes some payment to help defray the cost of board. Schloendorff v. New York Hospital, 211 N. Y. 128, 129; Kellogg v. Church Charity Foundation, 128 App. Div. 214.

[568]*568In many jurisdictions it is held that there is a complete exemption in favor of charitable institutions from liability for torts or negligence of their agents or servants, based upon the proposition that the funds of the institution are the subject of a charitable trust and cannot be diverted to another purpose or use; as in Illinois, Parks v. Northwestern University, 218 Ill. 385; but this doctrine does not prevail in the state of New York. Hordern v. Salvation Army, 199 N. Y. 233.

A sufficient reason why hospitals are not liable for the negligence of physicians and nurses is that a physician is not an employee or under the orders of the hospital and nurses are under the direction of such physicians.

The implied waiver by a patient extends to, and • covers, all negligence on the part of the hospital and its employees in performing hospital duties, and all matters and acts in connection with the hospital and in the furtherance of its objects. In all jurisdictions, “ It is recognized that the beneficiary of a charitable trust may not hold the corporation liable for the neglect of its servants. This is unquestionably the law of this state.” Hordern v. Salvation Army, 199 N. Y. 237. The negligence mentioned in the decisions, the failure to use reasonable care in selecting employees for certain work, comes within this waiver. The reasons for upholding the implied waiver apply not only to the negligence of servants but to negligence in the failuré to perform the duties of the master himself, which cannot • be delegated.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Bruce v. Young Men's Christian Ass'n.
277 P. 798 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1929)
Nixon v. Brown
214 P. 524 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1923)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
99 Misc. 564, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hamburger-v-cornell-university-nysupct-1917.