Case Name: Arturo Benitez, Appellant, v. Paxton Realty Corp., Respondent
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1996-01-18
Citations: 223 A.D.2d 431
Docket Number: 
Parties: Arturo Benitez, Appellant, v Paxton Realty Corp., Respondent.
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 223
Pages: 431–432

Head Matter:
Arturo Benitez, Appellant, v Paxton Realty Corp., Respondent.
[637 NYS2d 11]

Opinion:
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Luis Gonzalez, J.), entered August 31, 1994, which granted defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Summary judgment was properly granted on the ground that plaintiff, a guest of a tenant in a building owned by defendant, failed to come forward with any competent evidence raising a genuine issue of fact as to whether his assailants gained access to the building as a result of defendant's negligence. Without any proof whatsoever as to the manner in which his assailant gained access to the building, plaintiff cannot prove that defendant's negligence, if any, was the proximate cause of his injuries (Kistoo v City of New York, 195 AD2d 403, 404). Moreover, plaintiff's act of opening the locked apartment door, without first checking who was at the door, after dark, despite the fact that he had a peephole, was an intervening cause of the assailants' attack, severing any liability of defendant for failure to provide adequate security (Elie v Kraus, 218 AD2d 629, 630-631). Further, there was no showing of any history of criminal conduct on the premises. Concur—Rosenberger, J. P., Wallach, Rubin, Nardelli and Mazzarelli, JJ.