Opinion
2013-03-15
William Joseph DeANGELIS and Karen DeAngelis, Plaintiffs–Respondents, v. MARTENS FARMS, LLC, Defendant–Respondent, and Kristie E. Marion, Defendant–Appellant. (Appeal no. 2.)
Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Cayuga County (Mark H. Fandrich, A.J.), entered May 23, 2012. The order bifurcated the trial. Barth Sullivan Behr, Syracuse (David Walsh of Counsel), for Defendant–Appellant. Sugarman Law Firm, LLP, Syracuse (Esam Ahmad Elbadawi of Counsel), for Plaintiffs–Respondents.
Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Cayuga County (Mark H. Fandrich, A.J.), entered May 23, 2012. The order bifurcated the trial.
Barth Sullivan Behr, Syracuse (David Walsh of Counsel), for Defendant–Appellant. Sugarman Law Firm, LLP, Syracuse (Esam Ahmad Elbadawi of Counsel), for Plaintiffs–Respondents.
Goldberg Segalla LLP, Syracuse (Kenneth M. Alweis of Counsel), for Defendant–Respondent.
MEMORANDUM:
In this negligence action in which plaintiffs seek damages for injuries allegedly sustained by plaintiff William Joseph DeAngelis in a motor vehicle accident, Supreme Court did not abuse its discretion in granting the motion of defendant Martens Farms, LLC (Martens) to bifurcate the trial. Although issues of liability and damages in a negligence action generally “are distinct and severable and should be tried separately” ( Iglesias v. Brown, 59 A.D.3d 992, 993, 872 N.Y.S.2d 830;see22 NYCRR 202.42[a] ), an exception to that rule arises where the plaintiff's injuries have “an important bearing” on the issue of liability ( Parmar v. Skinner, 154 A.D.2d 444, 445, 546 N.Y.S.2d 16;see Kotarski v. Kotecki & Sons, 239 A.D.2d 909, 910, 661 N.Y.S.2d 804). Notably, plaintiffs supported the motion while defendant Kristie E. Marion opposed bifurcation. In opposing the motion, however, Marion failed to establish the need to depart from the general rule ( see Hrusa v. Bogdan, 278 A.D.2d 947, 947, 718 N.Y.S.2d 776;Armstrong v. Adelman Automotive Parts Distrib. Corp., 176 A.D.2d 773, 773–774, 575 N.Y.S.2d 101;see also Fetterman v. Evans, 204 A.D.2d 888, 889–890, 612 N.Y.S.2d 479).
It is hereby ORDERED that the order so appealed from is unanimously affirmed without costs.