Opinion
06-11-2024
Allahassan TRAOREY, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. The CITY OF NEW YORK, et al., Defendants–Appellants.
Ahmuty, Demers & McManus, Albertson (Kevin J. Murtagh of counsel), for appellants. Budin, Reisman, Kupferberg & Bernstein, LLP, New York (Gregory C. McMahon of counsel), for respondent.
Ahmuty, Demers & McManus, Albertson (Kevin J. Murtagh of counsel), for appellants.
Budin, Reisman, Kupferberg & Bernstein, LLP, New York (Gregory C. McMahon of counsel), for respondent.
Kern, J.P., Kapnick, Gesmer, González, O’Neill Levy, JJ.
Order, Bronx County (Bianka Perez, J.), entered May 23, 2023, which granted plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability and dismissed the affirmative defense of comparative fault, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Plaintiff alleges that he sustained injuries when he was struck by a school bus owned and/or operated by defendants while he was a pedestrian crossing the street. Plaintiff satisfied his prima facie burden of showing defendants’ fault and his lack of fault by submitting his deposition testimony that the traffic signal was in his favor and that he looked in both directions for cars before entering the cross-walk (Perez–Hernandez v. M. Marte Auto Corp., 104 A.D.3d 489, 490, 961 N.Y.S.2d 384 [1st Dept. 2013]; Cartagena v. Girandola, 104 A.D.3d 599, 599-600, 960 N.Y.S.2d 901 [1st Dept. 2013]). This evidence established that defendant bus driver, Richard Gil, violated Vehicle and Traffic Law §§ 1111 and 1112(a) by failing to yield the right-of-way to plaintiff despite a green light and WALK signal in his favor (see Rudolf v. Shayne, Dachs, Stanisci, Corker & Sauer, 8 N.Y.3d 438, 441, 835 N.Y.S.2d 534, 867 N.E.2d 385 [2007]).
In opposition, defendants failed to submit any admissible evidence to raise a triable issue of fact. The uncertified police accident report containing a statement purportedly made by the bus driver was inadmissible hearsay (see Silva v. Lakins, 118 A.D.3d 556, 557, 988 N.Y.S.2d 585 [1st Dept. 2014]; see also Zhi Feng Li v. Karim, 222 A.D.3d 594, 202 N.Y.S.3d 95 [1st Dept. 2023]). Defendants also submitted an affidavit of the bus driver, but that affidavit simply confirmed that he made the statement in the report without stating whether or not the statement was trae. Nor did the affidavit address the part of the police report that cited the bus driver for violating Administrative Code of City of N.Y. § 19–190(b), which requires a driver to yield to a pedestrian who has the right of way. As defendants acknowledged, that affidavit was insufficient to raise an issue of fact but only provided some indication of how the bus driver would testify at a deposition.
Contrary to defendants’ contention, plaintiff’s motion made five years after the action was commenced was not premature. Defendants could have attempted to locate the bus driver to appear for a deposition before plaintiff moved for summary judgment or, after locating him, could have obtained an affidavit based on his personal knowledge of the accident (see Thompson v. Pizzaro, 155 A.D.3d 423, 62 N.Y.S.3d 807 [1st Dept. 2017]; CPLR 3212[f]).