On May 16, 2018, the Second Department issued two Decisions and Orders in the matter of Kwang Bok Yi v. Open Karaoke Corp., et al. (under Docket Nos. 2015-01836 and 2016-11486) which affirmed the Decisions of the Court below.

The appeal under Docket No. 2015-01836 concerned the plaintiff’s appeal of the denial of his motion for a default judgment as against three defendants that did not appear and/or answer the plaintiff’s amended complaint in a timely manner. In affirming the Decision of the Court below, the Second Department held that the plaintiff failed to submit adequate proof of facts sufficient to establish viable causes of action against the late appearing defendants.

The appeal under Docket No. 2016-11486 concerned the plaintiff’s appeal of the Order which granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment. In his complaint, the plaintiff alleged that he was assaulted by a karaoke bar employee outside of the defendant’s karaoke bar. At the conclusion of discovery, the defendants moved for summary judgment to dismiss the plaintiff’s complaint in its entirety on the grounds that there was no proof of negligent hiring, retention and/or supervision. In affirming the Decision of the Court below which granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, the Second Department held that the defendants established that they did not know and/or should not have known the employee’s violent propensities and/or propensity for conduct which caused the plaintiff’s alleged injuries. Furthermore, the Second Department affirmed the lower Court’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s 42 USC § 1983 claim.