Zelenko v. Gimbel Bros.

The general proposition of law is that if a defendant owes a plaintiff no duty, then refusal to act is not negligence. (Palsgraf v. L. I. R. R. Co., 248 N. Y. 339.) But there are many ways that a defendant’s duty to act may arise. Plaintiff’s intestate was taken ill in defendant’s store. We will assume that defendant owed her no duty at all — that defendant could have let her be and die. But if a defendant undertakes a task, even if under no duty to undertake it, the defendant must not omit to do what an ordinary man would do in performing the task.

*905Here the defendant undertook to render…