At a holiday party in the Village of Rockville Centre, Diane Hughes-Berg supposedly became intoxicated and accompanied a coworker, Michael Mueller, to a nearby bar. When she started feeling disoriented, she went outside for some fresh air, collapsed, and, emergency personnel were summoned.
Hughes-Berg told Officer Fitzpatrick of the Rockville Centre Police Department she didn't need medical attention, didn't want a taxi to transport her home, and didn't wish anyone to "pick her up." After the officer allowed Mueller to take her home, Hughes-Berg was sexually assaulted.
Although Hughes-Berg alleged Fitzpatrick "negligently performed [his] duties by placing [Hughes-Berg] in Mueller's care and custody," the Nassau County Supreme Court disagreed and granted a request made by the officer, the Incorporated Village of Rockville Center and the Rockville Centre Police Department, to dismiss the case against them.
On appeal, the Appellate Division, Second Department, noted the only way the defendants could be liable for negligence would be if Hughes-Berg established the existence of a "special relationship." In other words, Hughes-Berg needed to show the defendants assumed, by way of "promises or actions," an "affirmative duty to act" on her behalf.
Instead, Hughes-Berg couldn't remember why Mueller drove her home. She later tried to recant that statement by claiming the officer "put her in Mueller's vehicle and gave her verbal assurances that Mueller would take her home." Since it didn't buy that story, the AD2 upheld case's dismissal as against the officer, the Incorporated Village of Rockville Centre and the Rockville Centre Police Department.
Party poopers?
To download a copy of the Appellate Division's decision, please use this link: Hughes-Berg v. Mueller