Motor Vehicle Accidents

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In Strong v. City of New York, the Appellate Division, First Department recently held that sanctions were appropriate in light of the NYPD’s deletion of audio recordings preceding a car accident allegedly initiated by an NYPD driver. Plaintiff and others were injured when an NYPD vehicle “collided with a vehicle operated by defendant Geraldo Falcon,…

Read More Deletion of Radio Transmissions Results in Sanctions in NYPD Car Accident Case
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In Ramkumar v. Grand Style Transportation Enterprises, Inc., the New York Court of Appeals recently reversed a summary judgment for defendant in plaintiff’s lawsuit seeking recovery for injuries sustained in a car accident. This case addresses the sufficiency of evidence for a plaintiff to claim that s/he suffered a “serious injury” despite their discontinuance of…

Read More Fact Issue Arising From Explanation for Gap in Treatment Precludes Summary Judgment as to “Serious Injury” in Car Accident Case
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In Brandt v. Zahner, decided Oct. 9, 2013, the Appellate Division, Second Department reversed summary judgment for defendant driver, thereby reinstating plaintiff pedestrian’s claims. Plaintiff claimed he was ” injured when, after crossing the westbound lane of I.U. Willets Road in Nassau County, he was struck by a vehicle driven by the defendant in the eastbound…

Read More Plaintiff Pedestrian’s Lawsuit Continues; Defendant Driver Did Not See Plaintiff Prior to Contact
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In Barahona v. America Recycle, LLC, the New York Supreme Court (Queens County) on Sept. 30, 2013 granted summary judgment to plaintiff passenger, but only as to his alleged culpable conduct. In this two-car accident case, plaintiff alleged that he sustained personal injuries after the car in which he was a passenger (and which was…

Read More Plaintiff Passenger Entitled to Summary Judgment But Only as to His Lack of Comparable Fault
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In a recent rear-end collision case, Neat v. Pfeffer, Supreme Court, New York County (Judge Bluth) allowed defendant’s expert Dr. Fijan, a biomechanical engineer, to testify “as to the forces involved in the accident” but not “as to whether those forces could have caused plaintiff’s injuries.” The court reached this determination following a so-called Frye hearing to…

Read More Biomechanical Expert Permitted to Testify as to Forces, But Not Injuries
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In Matter of Allstate Insurance Co. v. Reyes, the Appellate Division, Second Department addressed the “ownership, maintenance or use” requirement necessary to trigger supplementary uninsured/underinsured motorist (SUM) coverage in connection with a car-related injury. Plaintiff was injured while passing a vehicle when a rottweiler dog “extended its head from inside the vehicle and bit her…

Read More Car Dog Bite Fails to Trigger SUM Coverage
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The Appellate Division, First Department, today affirmed (in Renteria v. Simakov, 2013 NY Slip Op 06071) a grant of summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs, and the denial of summary judgment to defendants, in a case involving a rear-end collision. Defendant taxi driver Daza hit plaintiff in the rear after plaintiff stopped in the left lane…

Read More Court Affirms Summary Judgment for Plaintiff in Rear-End Collision Case
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A Nassau County trial court recently granted summary judgment to a plaintiff whose car was hit while stationary.  The case is Fontaine v. Curtin, 5659/12, NYLJ 1202616726798, at *1 (Sup., NA, Decided July 26, 2013). The facts: Plaintiff … was traveling westbound on Lafayette Street and came to a stop at the stop sign located at…

Read More Court Awards Summary Judgment to Plaintiff Whose Car Was Hit While Stopped
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The Second Circuit, in Isabella v. Koubek, recently certified a question to the New York Court of Appeals involving an apparent conflict between two statutes: Section 29(6) of New York’s Workers’ Compensation Law, which provides that workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy of an employee injured by his co-employee’s negligence, and Section 388 of New…

Read More When Cars, and Laws, Collide
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In Albano v. Stein, a rear-end collision case, a Brooklyn trial court denied summary judgment to defendants on the issues of liability, serious injury, and causation. There, plaintiff Albano’s car was struck from behind by a car owned by Atkins and driven by Stein: Ms. Albano was either backing or had just backed her vehicle…

Read More Brooklyn Car Accident Case Survives Summary Judgment on Liability and “Serious Injury” Threshold
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