In Guo Hua Wang v. Lang , Guo Hua Wang filed suit against Charles H. Greenthal Management Corp. ("Greenthal Management") to recover damages for personal injuries he sustained while making a food delivery to a tenant in a Greenthal building. (Wang was assaulted in the lobby by a building resident.)
When Greenthal's motion to dismiss the case was granted by the Kings County Supreme Court, Wang appealed to the Appellate Division, Second Department.
The AD2 held that "[w]hile the duty of the owner or possessor includes undertaking minimal precautions to protect visitors to the premises from reasonably foreseeable acts of third persons, it does not include protecting against unforeseeable and unexpected assaults."
Since Greenthal established that it had "no notice of any prior similar incidents such that it should have anticipated the alleged assault and protected the plaintiff," the AD2 agreed that Greenthal was entitled to the case's dismissal.
Now that's some tip.
To download a copy of the Appellate Division's decision, please use this link: Guo Hua Wang v. Lang