Summary
In White, the petitioner sought pre-action disclosure of "video camera recordings taken on the bus involved in petitioner's trip-and-fall on the date of the accident" (198 A.D.3d 557).
Summary of this case from Anderson v. N.Y.C. Transit Auth.Opinion
14448-14448A Index No. 152557/20 Case No. 2020–02677, 2020-04005
10-21-2021
In the Matter of Nancy WHITE, Petitioner–Respondent, v. The NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT AUTHORITY et al., Respondents–Appellants.
Lawrence Heisler, Brooklyn (Harriet Wong of counsel), for appellant.
Lawrence Heisler, Brooklyn (Harriet Wong of counsel), for appellant.
Renwick, J.P., Kapnick, Scarpulla, Rodriguez, Higgitt, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Suzanne J. Adams, J.) entered on or about June 2, 2020, which granted the petition brought pursuant to CPLR 3102(c) for a pre-action order to preserve and disclose video camera recordings taken on the bus involved in petitioner's trip-and-fall on the date of the accident, unanimously modified, on the law, to deny the petition as to the disclosure of the recordings, and otherwise affirmed, without costs. Appeal from order, same court and Justice, entered on or about September 21, 2020, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as moot.
The petition demonstrates that petitioner knew the date of the accident, the place of the accident, the individuals or entities involved in the accident, and the alleged cause of the accident. Thus, she was already in possession of facts sufficient to frame her complaint, and the only purpose of reviewing the video camera recordings would be to explore whether additional causes of action or alternative theories of liability existed, which is not a proper purpose for invoking CPLR 3102(c) (see Matter of Uddin v. New York City Tr. Auth., 27 A.D.3d 265, 266, 810 N.Y.S.2d 198 [1st Dept. 2006] ).
However, the court properly directed respondents to preserve the recordings (see e.g. Bishop v. Stevenson Commons Assoc., L.P., 74 A.D.3d 640, 641, 905 N.Y.S.2d 29 [1st Dept. 2010], lv denied 16 N.Y.3d 702, 2011 WL 135160 [2011] ).