Rozakis v. Beame

Each of the four petitioners, an officer in the New York City Fire Department, in three separate article 78 *401proceedings, seeks to annul the determination made by the Fire Commissioner finding him guilty of having violated various departmental rules and regulations and imposing fines (plus a transfer in the case of Woehr) as the appropriate sanction. A common thread running through all four cases is the attempt by respondents to impose a form of strict liability on these officers for the derelictions of their subordinates. While accountability is to be generally encouraged, we find the…