Maldonado v. Allum

208 A.D.3d 470

173 N.Y.S.3d 295

Benjamin MALDONADO, respondent,

v.Kevin R. ALLUM, defendant,Domino's Pizza, LLC, appellant.

2019-08623

Index No. 512116/17

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

Argued—May 3, 2022

August 3, 2022

Kendric Law Group, P.C., Garden City, NY (Christopher Kendric of counsel), for appellant.

Decolator Cohen & DiPrisco, LLP, Garden City, NY (Dominic DiPrisco and Carolyn Canzoneri of counsel), for respondent.

MARK C. DILLON, J.P., SHERI S. ROMAN, JOSEPH J. MALTESE, LARA J. GENOVESI, JJ.

DECISION & ORDER

In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for personal injuries, the defendant Domino's Pizza, LLC, appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Loren Baily–Schiffman, J.), dated June 27, 2019. The order denied that defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against it.

ORDERED that the order is reversed, on the law, with costs, and the motion of the defendant Domino's Pizza, LLC, for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against it is granted.

On June 9, 2016, the defendant Kevin R. Allum was employed by the defendant Domino's Pizza, LLC (hereinafter DP), and was delivering pizza in Brooklyn. At about 1:00 a.m., New York City Police Department Officer Benjamin Maldonado pulled over Allum's vehicle and cited him for a defective headlight. During the course of the traffic stop, Allum allegedly kicked his feet, flailed his arms, and resisted arrest. Maldonado forcibly removed Allum from the vehicle and both Maldonado and Allum fell to the ground.

Maldonado thereafter commenced this action to recover damages for personal injuries against Allum and DP. DP subsequently moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against it, contending that Allum was acting outside the scope of his employment at the time of the incident, and that it did not know, or have reason to know, that Allum would engage in a struggle with a law enforcement officer.

Maldonado opposed the motion, contending that there were issues of fact regarding whether Allum was acting outside the scope of his employment at the time of the incident. By order dated June 27, 2019, the Supreme Court denied the motion. DP appeals.

" ‘The doctrine of respondeat superior renders a master vicariously liable for a tort committed by his [or her] servant within the scope of employment’ " ( Meehan v. County of Suffolk, 144 A.D.3d 640, 641, 40 N.Y.S.3d 494, quoting Rivera v. Fenix Car Serv. Corp., 81 A.D.3d 622, 623, 916 N.Y.S.2d 169 ; see Camisa v. Rosen, 150 A.D.3d 809, 810, 54 N.Y.S.3d 111 ). " ‘An employee's actions fall within the scope of employment where the purpose in performing such actions is to further the employer's interest, or to carry out duties incumbent upon the employee in furthering the employer's business’ " ( Scott v. Lopez, 136 A.D.3d 885, 886, 25 N.Y.S.3d 298, quoting Beauchamp v. City of New York, 3 A.D.3d 465, 466, 771 N.Y.S.2d 129 ; see Camisa v. Rosen, 150 A.D.3d at 810, 54 N.Y.S.3d 111 ). "An action may also be considered to be within the scope of employment when it ‘is performed while the employee is engaged generally in the business of the employer, or if the act may be reasonably said to be necessary or incidental to such employment’ " ( Scott v. Lopez, 136 A.D.3d at 886, 25 N.Y.S.3d 298, quoting Pinto v. Tenenbaum, 105 A.D.3d 930, 931, 963 N.Y.S.2d 699 ; see Camisa v. Rosen, 150 A.D.3d at 810, 54 N.Y.S.3d 111 ). "Conversely, where an employee's actions are taken for wholly personal reasons, which are not job related, his or her conduct cannot be said to fall within the scope of employment" ( Beauchamp v. City of New York, 3 A.D.3d at 466, 771 N.Y.S.2d 129 ; see Ciccone v. City of New York, 138 A.D.3d 910, 910, 31 N.Y.S.3d 124 ). "[I]n cases involving a use of force, whether an employee is acting within the scope of employment requires consideration of whether the employee was authorized to use force to effectuate the goals and duties of the employment" ( Rivera v. State of New York, 34 N.Y.3d 383, 390, 119 N.Y.S.3d 749, 142 N.E.3d 641 ).

Here, DP established its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law dismissing the cause of action alleging vicarious liability by demonstrating that Allum's allegedly tortious conduct was not within the scope of his employment. Specifically, DP demonstrated that the violent conduct displayed by Allum during the course of receiving a ticket for a defective headlight was not reasonably foreseeable or incidental to the furtherance of DP's business interests and that Allum was not authorized to use force to effectuate the goals and duties of his employment (see Rivera v. State of New York, 34 N.Y.3d at 390, 119 N.Y.S.3d 749, 142 N.E.3d 641 ; Ciccone v. City of New York, 138...