Opinion
5369 Index 24450/16E
01-04-2018
Mai RAHHAL, et al., Plaintiffs–Respondents, v. Sarika DOWNING, R.N., et al., Defendants, Anacleta Villamor, R.N., et al., Defendants–Appellants.
Turken & Heath, LLP, Armonk (Jason D. Turken of counsel), for appellants. Arnold E. DiJoseph, P.C. New York (Arnold E. DiJoseph, III of counsel) for respondents.
Turken & Heath, LLP, Armonk (Jason D. Turken of counsel), for appellants.
Arnold E. DiJoseph, P.C. New York (Arnold E. DiJoseph, III of counsel) for respondents.
Renwick, J.P., Manzanet–Daniels, Gische, Kahn, Singh, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Wilma Guzman, J.), entered June 29, 2017, which, to the extent appealed from, denied defendants-appellants' motion to dismiss the complaint pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(8) for lack of personal jurisdiction due to lack of effective service, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Appellants are doctors and a nurse who were employed by defendant Bronx Lebanon Hospital at the time plaintiff commenced this medical malpractice action. Plaintiffs properly served appellants, as well as the hospital, by delivering copies of the summons and complaint to the hospital's Department of Risk Management and leaving them with the Coordinator of Risk Management, and thereafter mailing copies for each defendant.
Although appellants contend that their actual place of business is located in the Bronx Lebanon buildings where they provide medical services, for purposes of service of process pursuant to CPLR 308(2), Bronx Lebanon's Risk Management Office constitutes their "actual place of business" (see Colon v. Beekman Downtown Hosp., 111 A.D.2d 841, 490 N.Y.S.2d 581 [2nd Dept. 1985] ; see also Leung v. New York Univ., 2016 WL 1084141, *8–9, 2016 U.S. Dist LEXIS 34764 [S.D.N.Y.2016] ; Scheib v. Curran, 227 A.D.2d 328, 643 N.Y.S.2d 64 [1st Dept. 1996], affd 89 N.Y.2d 968, 655 N.Y.S.2d 885, 678 N.E.2d 497 [1997] ; cf. Glasser v. Keller, 149 Misc.2d 875, 878–879, 567 N.Y.S.2d 981 [Sup. Ct. Queens County 1991], affd on opinion below 197 A.D.2d 561, 603 N.Y.S.2d 766 [2nd Dept. 1993] ). The Risk Management Coordinator accepted service on behalf of defendant Bronx Lebanon, which was sued as the individual appellants' employer, to be liable for their actions pursuant to respondeat superior (see Leung at *8–9 ). The Risk Management Department was well suited to accept process on behalf of the hospital's employees (see Di Giuseppe v. Di Giuseppe, 70 Misc.2d 188, 333 N.Y.S.2d 245 [Civil Ct. of the City of New York, N.Y. County 1972] [personnel office]; Leung, supra [general counsel's office] ).
In the cases relied on by appellants, the defendant doctors were not employed by the hospital where service was attempted, and thus service was not proper pursuant to CPLR 308(2) (see Samuel v. Brooklyn Hosp. Ctr., 88 A.D.3d 979, 931 N.Y.S.2d 675 [2d Dept. 2011], lv denied 19 N.Y.3d 810, 951 N.Y.S.2d 468, 975 N.E.2d 914 [2012] ; Kearney v. Neurosurgeons of N.Y., 31 A.D.3d 390, 817 N.Y.S.2d 502 [2nd Dept. 2006] ).