New York Court of Appeals, 1977

Sanchez v. Village of Liberty

New York Court of Appeals · Decided June 9, 1977

42 N.Y.2d 876; 366 N.E.2d 870; 397 N.Y.S.2d 782; 1977 N.Y. LEXIS 2218

Cases that cite this one

57 later published cases cite this decision. The 25 that cite it most often are listed here.

United States v. Hooker Chemicals & Plastics Corp. (District Court, W.D. New York 1990)
Garrett v. Holiday Inns, Inc. (N.Y. 1983)
Leland v. Moran (District Court, N.D. New York 2000)
General Insurance Co. of America v. K. Capolino Construction Corp. (District Court, S.D. New York 1997)
Royal Insurance Co. of America v. Ru-Val Electric Corp. (District Court, E.D. New York 1996)
Waldron v. Rotzler (District Court, N.D. New York 1994)
Martell v. Boardwalk Enterprises, Inc. (2d Cir. 1984)
Platt v. District of Columbia (D.C. 1983)
Haehl v. Village of Port Chester (District Court, S.D. New York 1978)
Perret v. City of Westwego (La. Ct. App. 1978)
Penfield Place, LLC v. Dwyer Architectural, LLC (New York Supreme Court, Monroe County 2024)
Valdez v. City of New York (N.Y. 2011)
Bell v. Village of Stamford (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2008)
Jaramillo v. Callen Realty (New York Supreme Court 1992)
Linindoll v. City of New York (New York Supreme Court 1981)
Nicholson v. State (N.Y. Ct. Cl. 2008)
Lubitz v. Village of Scarsdale (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2006)
Pelaez v. Seide (N.Y. 2004)
Maguire v. Hudson National Golf Club, Inc. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2004)
Town of Lloyd v. Moreno (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2002)
Pearlman v. Simons (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2000)
Joslyn v. Village of Sylvan Beach (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1998)
Metcalfe v. Town of Islip (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1996)
Newhook v. Hallock (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1995)
Santacapita v. Town of Brookhaven (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1994)

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

Memorandum. Order modified, without costs, and the complaint as to defendants Village of Liberty and John Como dismissed.

Absent a special relationship creating a municipal duty to exercise care for the benefit of a particular class of individuals, no liability may be imposed upon a municipality for *878failure to enforce a statute or regulation (Motyka v City of Amsterdam, 15 NY2d 134, 139; see Smullen v City of New York, 28 NY2d 66, 72). Because the statutes and ordinances involved in the case at bar create no such special relationship, no liability may be imposed. Nor may liability be imposed on the "dangerous instrumentality” theory advanced in Runkel v City of New York with respect to an abandoned building attracting children from the abutting public thoroughfare (282 App Div 173, 176; see Runkel v Homelsky, 286 App Div 1101, affd 3 NY2d 857; cf. Martinez v Kaufman-Kane Realty Co., 34 NY2d 819, 821).

Chief Judge Breitel and Judges Jasen, Gabrielli, Jones, Wachtler, Fuchsberg and Cooke concur.

Order modified, without costs, in accordance with the memorandum herein and, as so modified, affirmed. Question certified answered in the affirmative.

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