The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge Abdus-Salaam, reversing the Appellate Division, determined a mental health and substance abuse treatment facility, JCAP, owed no duty of care to plaintiff who was assaulted by Velentzas, who had just been dismissed from the treatment program for violation of the program’s rules. The facility’s motion for summary judgment, therefore, should have been granted:
JCAP had some control or authority over its residents while they remained participants of the program. But, JCAP residents could leave the facility and terminate their participation in the program against medical advice. Although voluntary departure from the program would trigger adverse legal consequences — namely, dismissal from the TASC program and potential prosecution in criminal court for the charges against them — residents could leave at any time. In short, facilities like JCAP cannot force a participant to remain on the premises. These facilities are not prisons; JCAP’s control over Velentzas was, “in fact entirely dependent upon [his] willingness to comply with and carry out” its directives … . In the absence of the authority to prevent a participant from leaving, it follows that, when a participant is discharged from JCAP for violating facility rules, or withdraws from the program, he or she is no longer under the facility’s control. Oddo v Queens Vil. Comm. for Mental Health for Jamaica Community Adolescent Program, Inc., 2017 NY Slip Op 01256, CtApp 2-16-17
NEGLGENCE (SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT FACILITY OWED NO DUTY TO PLAINTIFF WHO WAS ASSAULTED BY A RESIDENT SHORTLY AFTER THE RESIDENT WAS DISMISSED FROM THE TREATMENT PROGRAM)/ASSAULT (NEGLIGENCE, SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT FACILITY OWED NO DUTY TO PLAINTIFF WHO WAS ASSAULTED BY A RESIDENT SHORTLY AFTER THE RESIDENT WAS DISMISSED FROM THE TREATMENT PROGRAM)/DUTY (NEGLIGENCE, SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT FACILITY OWED NO DUTY TO PLAINTIFF WHO WAS ASSAULTED BY A RESIDENT SHORTLY AFTER THE RESIDENT WAS DISMISSED FROM THE TREATMENT PROGRAM)/DRUG TREATMENT FACILITY (NEGLIGENCE, SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT FACILITY OWED NO DUTY TO PLAINTIFF WHO WAS ASSAULTED BY A RESIDENT SHORTLY AFTER THE RESIDENT WAS DISMISSED FROM THE TREATMENT PROGRAM)