Rotz v. City of New York

In Rotz v. City of New York, 143 AD2d 301, 304, 532 N.Y.S.2d 245 [1st Dept 1988], the plaintiff was trampled by a stampeding crowd at a concert in Central Park. The First Department reversed the trial court's summary dismissal of the complaint, finding that under the circumstances presented, a jury could reasonably find that a risk of harm was foreseeable, which risk the City apparently foresaw when it required the concert promoter to indemnify it. The court thus held that there existed factual issues as to whether the City and the concert promoter had fulfilled their duty "to provide an adequate degree of general supervision of the crowd invited by exercising reasonable care against foreseeable dangers under the circumstances prevailing" and "an adequate degree of general supervision of such activities as would endanger others utilizing the park," noting that the degree of supervision required "necessarily depends upon the peculiar attendant circumstances." (Rotz, 143 AD2d at 304-305).