Worth Distributors, Inc. v. Latham

In Worth Distributors, Inc. v. Latham, 59 N.Y.2d 231 [1983], a case that arose out of the collapse of a portion of the Broadway Central Hotel building in lower Manhattan, where forty-three actions to recover for wrongful death, personal injury, and property damage were consolidated, the complaints were dismissed against the city where the building department failed to enforce provisions of the city's Administrative Code relating to building safety, even though its employees knew of the dangerous structural conditions in the building, since the regulations were designed to protect the general public and no special relationship has been shown that would establish a municipal duty to the instant plaintiffs in particular. Accordingly, the City cannot be held liable to plaintiffs for its alleged failure to enforce its rules, regulations or statutes.