Roe v. New Jersey Transit Rail Operations

In Roe v. New Jersey Transit Rail Operations, 317 N.J.Super. 72, 74-75, 721 A.2d 302 (App.Div.1998), certif. denied, 160 N.J. 89, 733 A.2d 494 (1999), the plaintiff was walking to a public swimming pool from home and the route took her past the defendants subway station. A fence separated the station from a park in which the pool was located, but a gate in the fence permitted the plaintiff and others to commonly take a shortcut to the pool. The gate was broken, and was ultimately permanently bolted open by the defendant. After using the gate to take the shortcut to the park, the plaintiff was attacked. The assault did not occur on the defendants property. Id. at 75-76, 721 A.2d 302. The trial court, relying on Kuzmicz, held that the defendant was not liable for plaintiff's offsite injuries. Id. at 76-77, 721 A.2d 302. On appeal we reversed, holding that a jury could reasonably conclude that the bolted-open gate could be a dangerous condition which caused the plaintiff's injuries, and that the dangerous condition created a reasonably foreseeable risk of the type of injury that occurred. Id. at 78, 721 A.2d 302. Thus, if the defendant created the dangerous condition on its property and enhanced the risk of assault to persons crossing through the property, the defendant could be held liable, even though the assault occurred off premises. Id. at 80, 721 A.2d 302. Further, the Court observed that the defendant "potentially derived an incidental benefit by providing or encouraging additional access to the station." Ibid.