Summary
stating assault claim may be maintained outside statutory scheme when employee can demonstrate assault was committed outside scope of employment and done with "deliberate intent or conscious choice"
Summary of this case from Walker v. Weight Watchers Intern.Opinion
October 7, 1992
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Oneida County, Tenney, J.
Present — Green, J.P., Balio, Lawton, Boehm and Doerr, JJ.
Order unanimously modified on the law and as modified affirmed without costs in accordance with the following Memorandum: Supreme Court properly deferred plaintiff's negligence cause of action against the coemployee defendant until the Workers' Compensation Board decides whether the alleged incident occurred in the course of his employment (see, O'Rourke v Long, 41 N.Y.2d 219; Workers' Compensation Law § 29, [6]). Plaintiff's cause of action for the intentional tort of assault, however, may be maintained without regard to the pending Workers' Compensation Board review process. A plaintiff is not limited to relief under the Workers' Compensation Law if he can show that the assault was committed outside the scope of employment and was done with deliberate intent or conscious choice to do the act which results in the injury (see, Maines v Cronomer Val. Fire Dept., 50 N.Y.2d 535; see also, Werner v State of New York, 53 N.Y.2d 346, 351, n 1; Vercruysse v Alati, 78 A.D.2d 1015; 1 N.Y. PJI 2d 77 [1992 Supp]). We therefore modify the order of Supreme Court to reinstate plaintiff's cause of action for the intentional tort of assault.