Plaintiff Rose Bengel was allegedly injured as a result of medical assistance provided by defendant Holiday City at Berkeley First Aid Squad, Inc. (“the Squad”). The Squad had responded to a 9-1-1 call for medical assistance and transported her to the hospital. The issue in Bengel v. Holiday City at Berkeley First Aid Squad Inc., 2020 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 2374 (App. Div. Dec. 11, 2020) was whether the defendant Squad and its first responder members were immune from liability pursuant to statute.
In response to a 9-1-1 call, the Squad arrived at the Bengels’ home to assist Rose Bengel (“Rose”), then 86 years old. The Squad members were advised by her home health aide that she had been wheezing and had pink eye since recently arriving home from a nursing home. Rose was non-ambulatory, being confined to a wheelchair from muscular dystrophy for decades. They had to lift her from her wheelchair to a stretcher to transport her to the hospital.
The plaintiff alleges that the Squad members negligently injured Rose in the process of lifting her, causing her to suffer a rotator cuff tear in her left shoulder. Due to her age, surgery was not recommended and it was contended that Rose’s use of her left hand and arm became more limited after this incident.
The Squad disputed that they caused any injury to Rose in the process of transferring her to the stretcher. They claim that they gently lifted her from her wheelchair, wrapping their arms around her abdomen and feet and sat her on the stretcher.
The Squad moved for summary judgment, arguing that they had statutory immunity against claims of negligence. The Plaintiff argued that the statutory immunity did not apply because it was not an emergent situation and the Squad failed to demonstrate their actions were in good faith.
The trial court judge granted the Squad and its member responders a summary judgment dismissal. He noted that the Squad was one of the 4 volunteer first aid squads in Berkeley Township and its members were first responders certified to provide Basic Lift Support Services. The judge applied the statutes, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-13, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-13.1, and N.J.S.A. 26:2K-29, which “immunized volunteer rescue squads and members from civil liability when providing emergency public first aid or intermediate life support services in good faith.”
The judge found that the Squad members were engaged in public first aid rescue services as they were responding to a 9-1-1 medical emergency call. Although Rose’s condition may not have been life threatening, that did not make the call “non-emergent.” Further, the judge held that there was no evidence that any such injury suffered by Rose was with intent or bad faith of the Squad members.
The plaintiff appealed this summary judgment dismissal to the Appellate Division. The appeals court agreed with the trial judge that the Squad and its members who transported plaintiff qualified for statutory immunity from civil liability. More than negligent conduct would need to be proven to find that the Squad members failed to act in “good faith” or acted in a “willful or wanton” manner.
Thus, even if the Squad members were negligent in lifting Rose and caused her shoulder injury, the Appellate Division found that such actions did not strip the Squad and its members from their statutory immunity. Finding that, at worst, the Squad members were negligent, the Court upheld the trial court’s order granting summary judgment to the Squad and its members.
Betsy G. Ramos, Esq. is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and Co-Chair of the Litigation Group. She is an experienced litigator with over 25 years’ experience handling diverse matters. Her practice areas include tort defense, insurance coverage, Tort Claims Act and civil rights defense, business litigation, employment litigation, construction litigation, estate litigation and general litigation.
