Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2002

Sanzo v. Solvay Union Free School District

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York · Decided November 15, 2002

299 A.D.2d 878; 750 N.Y.S.2d 252; 2002 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 10929

Cases that cite this one

15 later published cases cite this decision.

Smith v. Half Hollow Hills Central School District (District Court, E.D. New York 2004)
Emmanuel B. v. City of New York (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2015)
Tracy Stopford, Individually, and as Administrator of the Estate of Jordan Preavy and Sean Preavy v. Milton Town School District and Milton Town School Board (Vt. 2018)
L.K. v. Niskayuna Cent. Sch. Dist. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2024)
McGarvey v. Eldred Cent. Sch. Dist. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2023)
Knaszak v. Hamburg Cent. Sch. Dist. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2021)
Harris v. Wmata (District Court, District of Columbia 2020)
Conklin v. Saugerties Central School District (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2013)
Conklin v. Saugerties Central School District (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2013)
WALLEY, TAJOURA v. BIVINS, ASHLEY (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2011)
Walley v. Bivins (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2011)
Rose v. Onteora Central School District (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2008)
Kozakiewicz v. Frontier Middle School (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2007)
Leuvan v. Rondout Valley Central School District (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2005)
Taylor v. Dunkirk City School District (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2004)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

Appeal from an order of Supreme Court, Onondaga County (Murphy, J.), entered May 21, 2001, which denied the motion of defendant Solvay Union Free School District for summary judgment dismissing the amended complaint and cross claim against it.

It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from be and the same hereby is unanimously reversed on the law without costs, the motion is granted and the amended complaint and cross claim against defendant Solvay Union Free School District are dismissed.

Memorandum: Plaintiffs commenced this action seeking damages for injuries sustained by Michael R. Sanzo (plaintiff) when he was assaulted by defendant Darryl B. Rotolo, II, a fellow high school student, in the school cafeteria. Supreme Court erred in denying the motion of defendant Solvay Union Free School District (School District) for summary judgment dismissing the amended complaint and cross claim against it. The School District met its initial burden on the motion by establishing that it did not have “specific knowledge or notice of the dangerous conduct which caused [the] injury” (Mirand v City of New York, 84 NY2d 44, 49), and neither plaintiff nor Rotolo raised an issue of fact (see generally Zuckerman v City of New York, 49 NY2d 557, 562). Although the principal of the high school was aware of verbal taunting between plaintiff and Rotolo, there was no proof that either student previously had engaged in violent or threatening behavior that “would or should have forewarned the School District” of the assault *879(Hanley v Hornbeck, 127 AD2d 905, 907; see Janukajtis v Fallon, 284 AD2d 428, 430). In any event, even assuming, arguendo, that the School District had the requisite knowledge or notice, we conclude that the School District established that the assault occurred so suddenly that no amount of supervision would have prevented it. Thus, any purported negligence by the School District based on its alleged lack of supervision was not a proximate cause of plaintiffs injuries (see Convey v City of Rye School Dist., 271 AD2d 154, 160; Foster v New Berlin Cent. School Dist., 246 AD2d 880, 881; see also Janukajtis, 284 AD2d at 430). Present — Pine, J.P., Wisner, Hurlbutt, Kehoe and Burns, JJ.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.