Municipal immunity.

The First Department dismissed the complaint as against the City, on the grounds of municipal immunity, in Shands v. Escalona, which was decided on October 23, 2007. Plaintiff had alleged that her intended roadside exit was closed because of flooding, and that a City police officer was negligent when he guided her back onto the highway, only to have her vehicle struck by a tractor-trailer owned and operated by co-defendants.

The court said that, even accepting plaintiff's allegations as true, any negligence on the part of the officer was committed in the course of a discretionary act for which the City is immune from suit, absent a special relationship. On these facts, the court did not find evidence of the requisite relationship.