Landlord Not Responsible for Tenant's Threat Against Social Worker

A social worker was menaced with a knife by a tenant while working at a facility owned and operated by NYC nonprofit entities. The facility provided housing and services to individuals suffering from mental illness and/or chronic homelessness. She sued the city, claiming that the facility lacked adequate security given its "high-risk" population. The lower court granted the city's request to dismiss the case without trial. The social worker appealed and lost. The city defendants were acting in a governmental capacity when they provided funding for the facility and its services. There was no special duty owed to the social worker beyond that owed to the general public. The landlord also showed that the incident wasn't reasonably foreseeable. Tenant had lived in the building nine years with no record of violent behavior or threats of violence against others. The building had surveillance cameras controlling building access and functioning locks on office doors. These were sufficient to satisfy a "minimal precautions" standard. And the incident was over within a minute and security personnel responded quickly. Additional security couldn't have prevented the incident.

Musano v. City of New York: Index Nos 11406, 452429/14, 2020 NY Slip Op 02368 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 4/23/20; Acosta, PJ, Richter, Manzanet-Daniels, Gische, Kapnick, JJ)