Landlord Not Responsible for Super's Abuse of Tenants' Child

Tenants sued landlord and the building's management company for negligence after the building super molested their child. They claimed that hiring the super, who was a registered sex offender, was negligent. Landlord and management company asked the court to dismiss the case without trial. The court ruled against them. They appealed and won. There was no proof that landlord and its manager had any knowledge that the super would be prone to commit a violent act. And, absent knowledge of any facts that would cause a reasonable person to question the super's background, an employer had no duty to ask whether an employee had been convicted of a crime. The super's acts were outside the scope of his employment. Landlord also didn't know that the super had falsified his identification records for payroll purposes.

Samoya W. v. 3940 Carpenter Ave, LLC: 187 A.D.3d 678, 2020 NY Slip Op 06218 (App. Div. 1 Dept; 10/29/20; Manzanet-Daniels, JP, Mazzarelli, Moulton, Kennedy, JJ)