Opinion
May 5, 1997
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (Lonschein, J.).
Ordered that the order is reversed, on the law, with costs, the motion is denied, the complaint is reinstated, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Queens County, for further proceedings.
The plaintiff's submissions included an affidavit in which a physician attested to his findings that the plaintiff Jerzy Wolfram "was only able to forward flex 20 degrees [and] * * * only able to lateral bend to the right and left 10 degrees". These and other objective data served as a valid predicate for the physician's expression of his opinion that the plaintiff had suffered a permanent loss of use of his lower back, and a permanent limitation of use of his back. Under these and all the other circumstances presented, we conclude that the injured plaintiff demonstrated the existence of an issue of fact as to whether he suffered a serious injury ( see, Insurance Law § 5102 [d]; Lopez v. Senatore, 65 N.Y.2d 1017; Zalduondo v. Lazowska, 234 A.D.2d 455; Puma v. Player, 233 A.D.2d 308).
Bracken, J.P., O'Brien, Santucci, Friedmann and Goldstein, JJ., concur.