GREENE v. CITY OF NEW YORK

We agree that defendants voluntarily assumed a special duty (Florence v Goldberg, 44 N.Y.2d 189; cf., Bonner v City of New York, 73 N.Y.2d 930) to protect plaintiff's decedent, a student of JHS 123, from a neighborhood bully who was often seen on school grounds, and who had threatened decedent with harm; the evidence further supported the verdict with respect to defendants' breach of that duty, proximately resulting in the fatality. However, there is considerable doubt as to whether and to what extent decedent experienced any conscious pain and suffering throughout the nineteen days between injury and death (Cook v Erwin, 30 A.D.2d 579, 580), during which time he remained in varying degrees of coma (Blunt v Zinni, 32 A.D.2d 882, 883, affd 27 N.Y.2d 521; Alfieri v Cabot Corp., 17 A.D.2d 455, affd 13 N.Y.2d 1027). Even relatively brief periods of consciousness would not warrant the kind of award plaintiff received here (see, Parilis v Feinstein, 71 A.D.2d 617, affd 49 N.Y.2d 984), especially where the injured party lapsed into coma almost immediately after injury (Tenczar v Milligan, 47 A.D.2d 773, lv denied 36 N.Y.2d 645).

Concur — Murphy, P.J., Carro, Kupferman, Asch and Kassal, JJ.