Was Landlord Responsible for Targeted Attack That Killed Tenant?
LVT Number: #31249
Tenant's son sued landlord NYCHA for negligence after tenant was killed in the building. Tenant and her sons had moved from a rented house to a NYCHA apartment to get away from tenant's abusive fiance. The lock on the apartment building's front door had been broken for months. One day the fiance confronted tenant in the building's hallway, doused her with flammable liquid and ignited it. The two of them died, and tenant's son was hospitalized for 15 months. NYCHA asked the court to dismiss the case without trial, arguing that it couldn't be held responsible for the "targeted" attack against tenant. NYCHA said this was different from a "random" attack.
The court ruled against NYCHA. It found that, depending on the circumstances, there could be a proximate causal link between the reasonableness of NYCHA's building security measures and the targeted crime itself. A trial was needed to determine the facts.
Scurry v. NYCHA: 2021 NY Slip Op 00447, NYLJ No. 1611843822 (App. Div. 2 Dept.; 1/27/21; Dillon, JP, Chambers, Miller, Brathwaite Nelson, JJ)