By Michele Evans / NYweeklyRecord.com / Date: 8/27/2026
Category: New York State Prisons / Corrections / Courts / Accountability
NEW YORK CITY, NY – A New York appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a claim seeking to hold the state financially responsible for an alleged assault by a correction officer, ruling that the officer was not acting within the scope of employment.
The decision, Bigica v. State of New York, was issued Wednesday by the Appellate Division, Second Department. The court affirmed a Court of Claims order granting the state summary judgment on the portion of the case challenged on appeal.
The claimant, Joseph Bigica, alleged that he suffered personal injuries when a correction officer assaulted him. The short ruling does not describe the alleged incident, identify the facility, explain the officer’s conduct in detail or say whether the officer faced discipline or criminal charges.
Just as important, the appellate court did not decide that no assault occurred. It decided that the state could not be held vicariously liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior because the officer’s alleged conduct fell outside the scope of employment.
That distinction is legally important and publicly consequential.
Under New York law, an employer can be held responsible for an employee’s intentional wrongdoing when the conduct occurred within the scope of the job and was generally foreseeable as part of the employment. Courts consider the time, place and occasion of the conduct, the employment relationship, normal work practices, the degree of departure from those practices and whether the employer could reasonably have anticipated what happened.
Use of force makes the analysis especially sensitive in a correctional setting. Correction officers are authorized to use force in limited circumstances to carry out their duties. But the Court of Appeals has said that a personal attack or other conduct detached from legitimate correctional goals may fall outside the job, even when it occurs inside a prison and involves an on-duty officer.
In Bigica’s case, the appellate panel held that the state established, at least for purposes of summary judgment, that the officer was acting outside the scope of employment during the alleged assault. The court said Bigica failed to raise a triable factual dispute sufficient to keep that theory of liability alive.
The ruling exposes a difficult accountability gap. The state gives correction officers custody, authority and access to incarcerated people. Yet when an officer allegedly crosses the line from authorized force into a personal assault, the same departure that makes the conduct wrongful can also become the reason the state avoids vicarious liability.
That does not automatically erase every possible remedy against an individual officer or foreclose every other legal theory. The published decision is narrower. It addresses the state’s responsibility under respondeat superior and affirms dismissal of that claim.
For incarcerated people, the practical barrier remains steep. They must preserve evidence from inside a closed institution, identify the right defendants, satisfy strict filing deadlines and prove not only what happened, but how the alleged conduct fits within technical rules governing state liability.
The unanswered questions in Bigica are substantial. The public decision does not reveal what investigation occurred, whether video existed, whether force reports were prepared, whether medical treatment was provided or whether the officer remained employed. A legal victory for the state does not answer those accountability questions.
The case is a reminder that courthouse outcomes can turn on how misconduct is categorized. If an officer acts for the state, the state may be responsible. If the conduct is deemed too far outside the job, the state may walk away from the claim. For people harmed behind prison walls, that line can determine whether accountability reaches the institution or stops with an individual.
Sources
New York State Law Reporting Bureau: Bigica v. State of New York
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