SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-0833-20

DEBORAH DERRICOTT,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

OCEAN TERRACE LUXURY

CONDOMINIUMS, MAX 

GURWICZ & SON ENTERPRISES,

OCEAN TERRACE 

CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, 

INC., and MAX GURWICZ & 

SONS SALES, INC.,

Defendants-Respondents,

v.

GUARDPRO SECURITY, INC.,

Third-Party DefendantRespondent.

______________________________

Argued December 15, 2021 – Decided February 28, 2022

Before Judges Gilson and Gummer.

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court." Although it is posted on the 

internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.
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A-0833-20

On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law 

Division, Atlantic County, Docket No. L-1306-19.

David T. Wright argued the cause for appellant (The 

Wright Law Firm, attorneys; David T. Wright, on the 

brief).

Robyn F. McGrath argued the cause for respondent 

Ocean Terrace Luxury Condominiums and Ocean 

Terrace Condominium Association, Inc. (Sweeney & 

Sheehan, PC, attorneys; Robyn F. McGrath, on the 

brief).

PER CURIAM

Contending a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether she was 

working as a security guard when she was assaulted on the condominium 

defendants' property, plaintiff Deborah Derricott appeals an order granting the 

condominium defendants' summary-judgment motion.1 Agreeing with Judge 

James P. Savio that no genuine issue existed, we affirm. 

1

 Plaintiff referred to "Ocean Terrace Association, Inc." as "Ocean Terrace 

Condominium Associates, Inc." in the caption of the complaint. We use "Ocean 

Terrace Condominium Association, Inc." in the caption because defendant used 

that name in its court submissions. We refer to Ocean Terrace Luxury 

Condominiums and Ocean Terrace Condominium Association, Inc. collectively 

as the "condominium defendants."
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A-0833-20

I.

We glean these facts from the summary-judgment record, viewing them 

in the light most favorable to plaintiff, the party opposing summary judgment. 

See Richter v. Oakland Bd. of Educ., 246 N.J. 507, 515 (2021) (citing Brill v. 

Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 142 N.J. 520, 540 (1995)).

For purposes of the summary-judgment motion, the parties did not dispute

the circumstances of plaintiff's injury: while lawfully present in the 

condominiums' garage, plaintiff was assaulted by someone trying to steal a 

bicycle. The parties disputed whether she had been employed as a security guard 

and, thus, had been injured while acting in the scope of her employment. 

The condominium defendants did not have any security-related 

employees. Instead, they retained GuardPro Security, Inc. (GuardPro) to 

provide security guards and maintain security for the residents of the building.

GuardPro had been the security company for the condominium defendants for 

several years before plaintiff's assault. The condominium defendants' vice 

president described the typical services provided by GuardPro as including a

"concierge service for the lobby and periodically just checking exit doors 

leading from the building and handling any emergencies that tenants may have 

during the course of the evening." He testified "guards" would leave the lobby 
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A-0833-20

desk when "doing a round." Although GuardPro's president testified guards 

were to remain at the lobby desk, in a memorandum issued about eleven months 

before plaintiff's assault, he "remind[ed]" the "[g]uards" stationed at Ocean 

Terrace "you are to be at the front desk unless you are on a patrol." He also 

testified GuardPro was hired to maintain security.

About three months before the assault, plaintiff was hired by GuardPro. 

In her complaint, plaintiff described GuardPro as a "security company" that 

"employed" her. The Ocean Terrace condominium complex was the only site 

where GuardPro had stationed her. Counsel for the condominium association 

asked plaintiff during her deposition to describe her "duties and responsibilities 

as a security guard at Ocean Terrace." With no objection to the form of the 

question by her counsel, plaintiff responded: 

What I understood [my] job obligations to be is [I was]

responsible for checking in any persons that came to the 

front building to see somebody, they had to sign into a 

book, . . . and let you know where they were going. [I 

was] to make rounds, . . . like every hour of the parking 

garage, the pool area. . . . make sure all doors were 

secured, the outside of the facility. . . . [J]ust your 

standard security patrol policy and procedures.

According to plaintiff, she was told about doing rounds in the parking garage 

and the pool by the dayshift supervisor, GuardPro's president, and Carol 

McGuire, who worked in the condominium defendants' management and was 
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plaintiff's "report-to person." When asked about "doing rounds in the parking 

garage and the pool," plaintiff testified: 

that's part of doing security. . . . [W]e [are] there to, 

. . . serve and protect. . . . [I]t's our responsibility to 

make sure all those tenants are safe so, . . . you have to 

make your rounds. . . . At that time it was summertime 

so the pool was open. Security is responsible for 

making rounds. Just viewing the pool, making sure that 

they are secured at the end of the night, checking the 

parking garage.

. . . [P]rior to me getting hired there they advised 

me they were having a lot of problems with bikes 

getting stolen, people, . . . breaking into the garage and

. . . different things. . . . [B]e on the lookout of

following up with maintenance, making sure 

maintenance puts the ladders that they used during the 

day away at night because, . . . people were breaking 

into the garage stealing cars and assaulting people. 

They had a lot of places to hide. So if you made the 

observation of a ladder you would document it. So 

when I made my rounds if I made any observations I 

would document it, report it to [the dayshift 

supervisor]. And I would also report it to Carol, Ms.

McGuire. 

Before she was stationed at Ocean Terrace, plaintiff was advised the 

cameras did not work and that inside the garage, tenants had had their bicycles 

stolen, their cars stolen, and had been assaulted "by kids or young men getting 

into the garage." Counsel for the condominium association asked plaintiff 

during her deposition if she "under[stood] it was [her] role as a security officer 
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to try and prevent these problems from occurring." With no objection to the 

form of the question from her counsel, plaintiff responded: "I was advised from 

Ocean Terrace management and GuardPro that, Deborah, you have to try to 

make sure you stay vigilant, make your presence be known. It's our 

responsibility as security to protect the tenants of Ocean Terrace." She 

understood that during her shift she was "to check the floors, . . . the parking 

garage, . . . the pool area, the exits." She testified "[t]hey wanted us to patrol 

the parking garage, check . . . the stair levels, check the exit doors" and it was 

part of her "every day" and "normal routine" to patrol those areas. 

On the evening of the assault, plaintiff was at work at Ocean Terrace when 

she went to check the garage as part of her "normal rounds." She was "startled" 

by two men. One man had cut the lock to the bicycle "storage area" in the 

garage. The other "had something in his hand like he was going to attempt to 

break . . . a window." One of the men ran by plaintiff and "punched [her] in 

[the] face." The other "dropped the chains to the bike and . . . ran." 

Plaintiff filed a complaint and an amended complaint, alleging the 

property had "a dangerous and hazardous condition," specifically "inadequate 

security devices, measures, and protocols." Plaintiff faulted the condominium 

defendants for doing "nothing to increase security devices, measures, or 
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protocols" and for failing "to adequately staff security guards," even though they 

were aware of the "break-ins" and that cameras were not working properly. 

The condominium defendants' third-party complaint against GuardPro

was dismissed with prejudice pursuant to a summary-judgment ruling. 

Plaintiff's counsel conceded during oral argument on appeal that plaintiff had 

applied for and received workers-compensation benefits based on the injuries 

she had sustained in the assault. See Millison v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 

101 N.J. 161, 174 (1985) (noting employees' entitlement to workerscompensation benefits for injuries suffered "by accident arising out of and in the 

course of employment").

Plaintiff served a report from Russell Kolins of the Kolins Security Group, 

which Kolins described as "National Security Experts [and] Consultants."

According to Kolins, plaintiff worked as "a guard" at the condominiums and her 

duties were "to control access to the lobby, signing guests in and out, and making 

hourly patrols of the facility." Kolins described the assault as happening during

her "shift as a guard" at the condominiums and after she had "left the lobby to 

start her patrol in the garage." 

The condominium defendants moved for summary judgment. Judge Savio

granted that motion, giving his reasons on the record following oral argument. 
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He found "based upon the plaintiff's testimony, . . . the plaintiff believed that 

what she was doing at the time that she was injured was within the scope of her 

employment . . . at GuardPro to provide security services for the Ocean Terrace." 

In making that finding, the judge specifically referenced plaintiff's testimony 

that "she was providing security services" and "thought it was within the scope 

of her employment to be doing what she was doing at the time that she was 

injured." He also found the condominium defendants had retained GuardPro to 

provide security services, "although certain testimony . . . from the defendants" 

could "be read . . . as suggesting that plaintiff's duties did not include patrolling 

the area where the bicycles were located." Judge Savio concluded there was "no 

genuine factual dispute about whether or not [plaintiff] was performing services 

within the scope of the contract between GuardPro and Ocean Terrace." 2 He 

granted summary judgment, finding "there [wa]s no duty on the part of a 

landowner to . . . an employee of an independent contractor who [wa]s 

performing services within the scope of h[er] contract." 

On appeal, plaintiff argues the judge erred in granting the condominium 

defendants summary judgment because material facts concerning whether she 

was a security guard precluded summary judgment and because the 

2

 The parties did not provide us with a copy of the contract. 
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condominium defendants could have been held liable for her injuries given that 

she was not a security guard.

II.

We review a grant of summary judgment "de novo and apply the same 

standard as the trial court." Rios v. Meda Pharm., Inc., 247 N.J. 1, 13 (2021). 

"That standard mandates that summary judgment be granted 'if the pleadings, 

depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the 

affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact 

challenged and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment or order as a 

matter of law.'" Templo Fuente De Vida Corp. v. Nat'l Union Fire Ins. Co. of 

Pittsburgh, 224 N.J. 189, 199 (2016) (quoting R. 4:46-2(c)). "An issue of 

material fact is 'genuine only if, considering the burden of persuasion at trial, 

the evidence submitted by the parties on the motion, together with all legitimate 

inferences therefrom favoring the non-moving party, would require submission 

of the issue to the trier of fact.'" Grande v. St. Clare's Health Sys., 230 N.J. 1, 

24 (2017) (quoting Bhagat v. Bhagat, 217 N.J. 22, 38 (2014)). When 

determining if a genuine issue of material fact exists, the judge must determine 

"whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission 

to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of 
10 A-0833-20

law." Brill, 142 N.J. at 533 (quoting Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 

242, 251-52 (1986)); see also Petro-Lubricant Testing Lab'ys, Inc. v. Adelman, 

233 N.J 236, 257 (2018). In our review, we owe "no special deference" to the 

trial court's legal analysis. RSI Bank v. Providence Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 234 N.J. 

459, 472 (2018). Whether a defendant owes a plaintiff a duty and the scope of 

that duty are legal questions. Shields v. Ramslee Motors, 240 N.J. 479, 487-88 

(2020).

A landowner generally has "a nondelegable duty to use reasonable care to 

protect invitees against known or reasonably discoverable dangers." Rigatti v. 

Reddy, 318 N.J. Super. 537, 541 (App. Div. 1999) (quoting Kane v. Hartz 

Mountain Indus., Inc., 278 N.J. Super. 129, 140 (App. Div. 1994)). Although 

that duty extends to an independent contractor's employee, "[t]he landowner is 

under no duty to protect an employee of an independent contractor from the very 

hazard created by doing the contract work." Sanna v. Nat'l Sponge Co., 209 N.J. 

Super. 60, 67 (App. Div. 1986); see also Olivo v. Owens-Illinois, Inc., 186 N.J. 

394, 406-07 (2006) (recognizing "exception to the requirement that premises be 

made safe for an independent contractor when the contractor is invited onto the 

land to perform a specific task in respect of the hazard itself"). The reason for 

that exception to the landowner's general duty to protect invitees is that "the 
11 A-0833-20

landowner may assume that the independent contractor and [its] employees are 

sufficiently skilled to recognize the dangers associated with their task and adjust 

their methods accordingly to ensure their own safety." Accardi v. Enviro-Pak 

Sys. Co., 317 N.J. Super. 457, 463 (App. Div. 1999). 

Thus, we have held a landowner is not liable when an independent 

contractor's employee sustains an injury "as a result of the very work which the 

employee was hired to perform." Dawson v. Bunker Hill Plaza Assocs., 289 

N.J. Super. 309, 318 (App. Div. 1996). See Rigatti, 318 N.J. Super. at 543 

(finding landowner not liable to roofer's employee who was injured when he fell 

through the roof because "[t]he potential that a roofer may fall through any part 

of an old roof is an inherent risk reasonably foreseeable to the worker"); Cassano 

v. Aschoff, 226 N.J. Super. 110, 115 (App. Div. 1988) (landowner not liable 

when employee of tree-removal contractor was struck by falling limb); but see

Nielsen v. Wal-Mart Store #2171, 429 N.J. Super. 251, 265 (App. Div. 2013) 

(holding exception does not "cover a circumstance . . . where the land occupier 

fails to warn of a hazardous condition that the independent contractor is not there 

to repair"); Moore v. Schering Plough, Inc., 328 N.J. Super. 300, 306 (App. Div. 

2000) (holding exception does not apply to security guard who was injured when 

he slipped and fell on ice and snow he was not responsible for removing). 
12 A-0833-20

Here, plaintiff does not contest the application of the exception to the 

circumstances of this case if she were acting as a security guard. Instead, she 

now contends a factual dispute exists as to whether she was acting as a security 

guard. She makes that contention even though in her sworn testimony she 

consistently and repeatedly identified herself as a security guard and described 

her duties as those of a security guard; in her complaint she asserts she was 

employed by a "security company"; and her security expert witness found she 

had been working as "a guard," had a duty to make "hourly patrols of the 

facility," and had been injured during her "shift as a guard" when she was on 

"patrol in the garage." She bases that contention on isolated statements taken 

out of context. For example, she relies on the condominium defendants' vice 

president's reference to GuardPro3"[p]roviding concierge service for the lobby."

But in the same sentence he testified about GuardPro personnel "periodically 

. . . checking exit doors leading from the building and handling any emergencies 

that tenants may have . . . ." He also testified "guards" would leave the lobby 

desk when "doing a round." She focuses on GuardPro's president's testimony 

about GuardPro's administrative responsibilities but ignores his testimony that 

3

 We assume the reference is to GuardPro. The question asked was "And what 

service was that?" Plaintiff did not include a copy of the prior page of the 

transcript, making it difficult to discern the context of the question. 
13 A-0833-20

GuardPro was hired to maintain security and his memorandum reminding 

"guards" stationed at the condominiums to remain at the front desk unless they 

were "on a patrol." 

The evidence establishes plaintiff was working as a security guard and 

was acting in that role in the scope of her employment when she was assaulted. 

Her own testimony compellingly confirms it. She clearly understood she was 

working as a security guard and that part of her job was to patrol the garage , 

which she knew had been the site of previous thefts and assaults. The findings

of her security expert witness support that conclusion. The isolated comments 

on which plaintiff now relies do not "present[] a sufficient disagreement to 

require submission to a jury." Brill, 142 N.J. at 533 (quoting Anderson, 477 

U.S. at 251-52). Here, the evidence "is so one-sided," ibid. (quoting Anderson, 

477 U.S. at 252), that summary judgment was appropriate. With no genuine 

issue of material fact concerning her employment as a security guard and that 

she was acting in that capacity when she was assaulted, Judge Savio correctly 

applied the independent-contractor exception to the general landowner duty 

because plaintiff was engaged in "the very work which [she] was hired to 

perform." Dawson, 289 N.J. Super. at 318.

Affirmed.