A QUESTION OF FACT EXISTS WHETHER DEFENDANT DRUG TREATMENT FACILITY OWED A DUTY OF CARE TO PLAINTIFF WHO WAS STABBED BY A PATIENT OF THE FACILITY SHORTLY AFTER DISCHARGE.

The First Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Sweeny, over a full-fledged dissenting opinion by Justice Saxe, determined defendant drug treatment facility (Queens Village) did not demonstrate that it owed no duty  of care to plaintiff who was stabbed by a patient who had just been discharged by the facility. Queens Village is an alternative to incarceration. The patient was there because he had robbed a cab driver at gunpoint. The patient was discharged because he had pushed another patient to the ground and admitted drinking alcohol. The director of Queens Village indicated that the plan was to transfer the patient to an interim facility until he could be returned to the TASC program [Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities]. However, the patient apparently became enraged when told he was being discharged and was “escorted” from Queens Village by the police. There was no evidence the police took the patient into custody, or that the police were told by Queens Village to take the patient to the interim facility. The majority concluded that the evidence demonstrated Queens Village exercised sufficient control over the patient (he was to be transferred to an interim facility, not released) to give rise to a duty of care owed to plaintiff. Because Queens Village moved for summary judgment, the court deemed that Queens Village did not demonstrate, as a matter of law, that it did not owe plaintiff a duty of care:

Generally, the common law does not impose a duty to control the conduct of third persons to prevent them from causing injury to others; rather, liability for the negligent acts of third persons “arises when the defendant has authority to control the actions of such third persons” … . * * *

The key factor in determining whether a defendant will be liable for the negligent acts of third persons is whether the defendant has sufficient authority to control the actions of such third persons … . Such authority, at a minimum, requires “an existing relationship between the defendant and the third person over whom charge’ is asserted” … .There is no question that Queens Village had “an existing relationship” and sufficient authority to control [the patient’s] actions. Oddo v Queens Vil. Comm. for Mental Health for Jamaica Community Adolescent Program, Inc., 2015 NY Slip Op 08943, 1st Dept 12-3-15

NEGLIGENCE (DUTY OF CARE RE: THIRD PARTY)/DUTY OF CARE (OWED TO THIRD PARTY)/THIRD PARTY (DUTY OF CARE OWED TO)