Ruiz v. Mero

At issue in this appeal is the continued vitality of the firefighters’ rule, a common-law doctrine that bars a first responder from recovering damages from a property owner for injuries sustained while confronting an emergency on the owner’s premises. In this ease, a police officer sued a commercial landowner for injuries he suffered when quelling a disturbance at the owner’s bar. The trial judge dismissed the complaint as barred by the firefighters’ rule. The Appellate Division reversed and reinstated the complaint, on the ground that the firefighters’ rule has been abrogated by N.J.S.A.…