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Whyte v. Rodney

Appellate Term of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Nov 7, 2008
2008 N.Y. Slip Op. 52259 (N.Y. App. Term 2008)

Opinion

570548/07.

Decided November 7, 2008.

Defendants Fung and Chambers appeal from so much of an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County (Ben R. Barbato, J.), entered June 15, 2007, as denied their motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and all cross claims against them.

Order (Ben R. Barbato, J.), entered June 15, 2007, affirmed, with $10 costs.

PRESENT: Davis, J.P., Schoenfeld, Heitler, JJ.


Plaintiff commenced this action to recover damages for personal injuries that he sustained when the vehicle in which he was a passenger, a taxi-cab owned by defendant Fung and operated by defendant Chambers (the Chambers vehicle) collided with a vehicle owned by defendant Rodney and operated by defendant Beckett (the Beckett vehicle).

The cross motion of defendants Fung and Chambers for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and all cross claims against them was properly denied. Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1141 requires "the driver of a vehicle intending to turn to the left within an intersection . . . [to] yield the right of way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction which is within the intersection or so close as to constitute an immediate hazard." While it is undisputed that at the time of the accident, the two vehicles were traveling on the same roadway in opposite directions, and that the Beckett vehicle attempted to make a left turn, the record so far developed does not disclose the relevant circumstances leading up to the accident, including the speed of the respective vehicles, the actions taken by each driver, and the distance of the vehicles from the intersection when Beckett turned left. At the time of the summary judgment motions, defendants had not been deposed and plaintiff's EBT testimony was insufficient to establish as a matter of law which driver was responsible for the accident ( compare Spivak v Erickson, 40 AD3d 962).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.

I concurI concurI concur


Summaries of

Whyte v. Rodney

Appellate Term of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Nov 7, 2008
2008 N.Y. Slip Op. 52259 (N.Y. App. Term 2008)
Case details for

Whyte v. Rodney

Case Details

Full title:CHRISTOPHER WHYTE, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. MARTIN MOMSELLA RODNEY, WISLER…

Court:Appellate Term of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department

Date published: Nov 7, 2008

Citations

2008 N.Y. Slip Op. 52259 (N.Y. App. Term 2008)