Mastroianni v. County of Suffolk

184 Misc. 2d 125, 705 N.Y.S.2d 504, 2000 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 85
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 12, 2000
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 184 Misc. 2d 125 (Mastroianni v. County of Suffolk) 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
Mastroianni v. County of Suffolk, 184 Misc. 2d 125, 705 N.Y.S.2d 504, 2000 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 85 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2000).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Alan D. Oshrin, J.

In this action the plaintiff seeks damages stemming from an alleged failure to provide the plaintiffs decedent with protection after the Police Department had been directly notified that the decedent’s husband had violated an order of protection. The incident occurred on September 15, 1985. The matter has been the subject of extensive litigation and in December 1997 the Court of Appeals determined that a special relationship existed between the municipality and the injured party and, therefore, that the plaintiff had a viable claim (91 NY2d 198 [1997]).

This court has supervised discovery and has scheduled the matter for trial during February 2000. At a pretrial conference conducted on December 22, 1999 the plaintiff sought leave to amend the complaint “to further amplify plaintiffs allegations as to the inapplicability of Article 16.” The plaintiffs letter dated December 22, 1999 has been treated by this court as a notice of motion. The defendant opposed the application by letter dated December 30, 1999.

The proposed pleading is dated December 21, 1999. The plaintiff now alleges at both paragraphs 14 and 18 that “the defendant’s claim for limited liability pursuant to CPLR 1601 is not applicable because this action falls within three exemptions of CPLR 1602 contained in subsections 4 [should be (2) (iv)], 7 and 11.” The proposed pleading provides as follows:

“a) The defendants’ liability arises herein by reason of the failure to enforce a non-delegable duty to protect the decedent, Adell Parker Swiggett, from her assailant-husband, Anthony Swiggett, pursuant to the Order of Protection which was is[127]*127sued, to Adell Parker Swiggett, which was in full force and effect when it was shown to the Police Officers at the time she requested their aide [sic] in enforcing the said Order of Protection. (CPLR Section 1602(2-iv)); and

“b) The defendants’ liability also arises by reason of the Police Officers, and the Suffolk County Police Department, having acted with reckless disregard for the safety of Adell Parker Swiggett in not enforcing the Order of Protection against Anthony Swiggett and by not arresting him and removing him from the area of residence of Adell Parker Swiggett, i.e., 39 Pine Street, Central Islip, New York prior to his murdering her (CPLR Section 1602(7)); and

“c) The defendants’ liability also arises by reason of the investigating Police Officer and/or Police Officers, knowingly believing that Anthony Swiggett was in violation of the Order of Protection issued to the decedent, Adell Parker Swiggett, knowingly and intentionally failed and refused to arrest Anthony Swiggett and removed [sic] him from the area of decedent’s residence (CPLR Section 1602(11)).”

These exemptions are the nondelegable duty (CPLR 1602 [2] [iv]), reckless disregard (CPLR 1602 [7]) and knowingly or intentionally (CPLR 1602 [11]) exemptions to the limitation of liability to one’s proportionate share when such proportionate share is 50% or less. In support of the motion, the plaintiff relies upon the recent opinion of the Court of Appeals in Morales v County of Nassau (94 NY2d 218 [1999]). In Morales the Court of Appeals considered the consequence of the failure to plead the statutory exemptions to article 16. In Morales the plaintiff had pulled her car alongside an area where Nassau County police officers were investigating an accident, jumped out of the vehicle and sought help claiming that her husband who had hidden himself in her vehicle and threatened her with a knife had violated an order of protection. The police removed the husband from the vehicle, permitted the wife to drive away, but did not arrest the husband. Early the next morning, the husband attacked the wife in her driveway with a machete inflicting serious injuries.

In Morales (supra), at the precharge conference, the defendant County requested a charge to the jury that liability could be apportioned between itself and the husband. The Trial Judge declined to instruct the jury that it could apportion liability, finding the existence of a strong public policy for the issuance and enforcement of orders of protection and in addressing situations of domestic violence (Morales v County of Nassau, [128]*128175 Misc 2d 35 [1997]). On appeal the Appellate Division held that the “nondelegable duty” exemption did not apply to the facts of the case and that the trial court erred in refusing to issue an apportionment charge (256 AD2d 608 [1998]). On further appeal to the Court of Appeals, Judge Ciparick, writing for the Court, noted that the plaintiff did not plead the intentional tort or nondelegable duty exception, nor did plaintiff move to amend her pleadings until the matter was submitted to the Court of Appeals. Judge Ciparick acknowledged that leave to amend pleadings is liberally granted, but observed that as the Court of Appeals stated in Cole v Mandell Food Stores (93 NY2d 34, 40 [1999]), “‘a defendant potentially subject to the weight of full judgment must have appropriate notice [of why article 16 might not apply] provided by pleadings.’” (Morales v County of Nassau, 94 NY2d, at 223.) Judge Ciparick further wrote that “[h]aving failed to plead the exemptions in her original complaint, once the County requested an apportionment charge, plaintiff should have moved to amend her pleading to include any possible article 16 exemptions. Plaintiff did not do so then or at any time prior to the presentation of the appeal to this Court.” (Supra, at 224.)

Inasmuch as the courts have generally permitted plaintiffs to amend the pleadings at various points throughout an action in order to comply with CPLR 1603 (see, Cole v Mandell Food Stores, 93 NY2d 34, supra) and Judge Ciparick has suggésted that such an application could be made during a jury charge conference, the court finds that the plaintiff’s application to amend the complaint is not untimely. In addition to opposing the motion on the ground of timeliness, the County argues that the nondelegable duty exemption does not apply (citing the Appellate Division’s ruling in Morales v County of Nassau, 256 AD2d 608 [1998], supra); that if the court should permit the amendment, that the court should limit the exemptions to the exemptions contained therein; and that it is entitled to a verified bill of particulars as to the claimed exemptions to article 16.

The court will now address the merits of the proposed amendment. As to the nondelegable duty exemption, the Appellate Division in Morales (supra), as noted above, held that the law does not impose upon police officers a “nondelegable duty” to arrest, within the meaning of CPLR 1602 (2) (iv), in every case where the police officers might have the authority to arrest. The Court then found that the “nondelegable duty” exemption does not apply to the facts of this case and that the trial court [129]*129erred in refusing to issue an apportionment charge (Morales v County of Nassau, 256 AD2d 608, supra). The pertinent facts of Morales were set forth above.

In the case at bar, the Family Court issued a permanent order of protection against Anthony Swiggett on June 12, 1985. Less than two weeks after it was issued, on June 24th, Mr. Swiggett was arrested for violating the order of protection.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
184 Misc. 2d 125, 705 N.Y.S.2d 504, 2000 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 85, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mastroianni-v-county-of-suffolk-nysupct-2000.