The Second Department determined the complaint in this negligent supervision case was properly dismissed. The student plaintiff had cerebral palsy and was being supervised at recess by an aide who was ten feet aware. The student was playing a game which was supervised by an athletic director when the student plaintiff and another student collided:
The infant plaintiff … [alleged] that the defendants were negligent in failing to provide adequate supervision, and in allowing the infant plaintiff to participate in the wall ball game. … [T]he defendants moved for summary judgment … contending that they provided adequate supervision to the children during recess, that the infant plaintiff’s Individualized Education Plan did not restrict him from playing during recess, and that … any alleged failure to provide adequate supervision was not a proximate cause of the infant plaintiff’s injuries because the collision occurred suddenly and unexpectedly.
“Schools are under a duty to adequately supervise the students in their charge and they will be held liable for foreseeable injuries proximately related to the absence of adequate supervision”… . Schools are not, however, insurers of their students’ safety, and may not be held liable ” for every thoughtless or careless act by which one pupil may injure another'” … . Moreover, when an accident occurs in so short a span of time that even the most intense supervision could not have prevented it, any lack of supervision is not a proximate cause of the injury … .
Here, the defendants … [demonstrated] that they provided adequate supervision to the infant plaintiff during recess… and, in any event, that the accident was caused by a sudden and spontaneous collision which could not have been prevented by more intense supervision … . Tzimopoulos v Plainview-Old Bethpage Cent. Sch. Dist., 2017 NY Slip Op 08296, Second Dept 11-22-17
NEGLIGENCE (SUPERVISION, SCHOOLS, STUDENT WITH CEREBRAL PALSY COLLIDED WITH ANOTHER STUDENT DURING A SUPERVISED GAME, SUPERVISION WAS ADEQUATE AND INJURY WAS DUE TO A SPONTANEOUS ACT WHICH SUPERVISION COULD NOT PREVENT, SCHOOL’S SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION PROPERLY GRANTED (SECOND DEPT))/EDUCATION-SCHOOL LAW (NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION, STUDENT WITH CEREBRAL PALSY COLLIDED WITH ANOTHER STUDENT DURING A SUPERVISED GAME, SUPERVISION WAS ADEQUATE AND INJURY WAS DUE TO A SPONTANEOUS ACT WHICH SUPERVISION COULD NOT PREVENT, SCHOOL’S SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION PROPERLY GRANTED (SECOND DEPT))/NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION (EDUCATION-SCHOOL LAW, STUDENT WITH CEREBRAL PALSY COLLIDED WITH ANOTHER STUDENT DURING A SUPERVISED GAME, SUPERVISION WAS ADEQUATE AND INJURY WAS DUE TO A SPONTANEOUS ACT WHICH SUPERVISION COULD NOT PREVENT, SCHOOL’S SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION PROPERLY GRANTED (SECOND DEPT))