The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined summary judgment should not have been granted to the transit defendants in this bicycle-bus accident case. Plaintiff’s decedent was riding her bicycle when a car door opened in front of her. She struck the door and fell over into the path of a bus, which ran over her. Summary judgment was granted to the transit defendants under the emergency doctrine. However, the First Department held that evidence the bus driver’s vision to the side may have been blocked by standing passengers raised a question of fact about the applicability of the emergency doctrine:
Given the conflicting testimony in the record, including that there may have been passengers standing in front of the white line, which partially blocked the bus driver’s view as he passed the red light, it was error for the motion court to have determined the reasonableness of the bus driver’s response to the emergency situation presented, as a matter of law. This is an issue of fact that should be decided by a jury. Powers v Kyong Kwan Min, 2017 NY Slip Op 00716, 1st Dept 2-2-17
NEGLIGENCE (CONFLICTING TESTIMONY RAISED QUESTION OF FACT ABOUT APPLICABILITY OF THE EMERGENCY DOCTRINE)/BICYCLISTS (TRAFFIC ACCIDENT, CONFLICTING TESTIMONY RAISED QUESTION OF FACT ABOUT APPLICABILITY OF THE EMERGENCY DOCTRINE)/TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS (BUS-BICYCLE ACCIDENT, CONFLICTING TESTIMONY RAISED QUESTION OF FACT ABOUT APPLICABILITY OF THE EMERGENCY DOCTRINE)/EMERGENCY DOCTRINE (NEGLIGENCE, BUS-BICYCLE ACCIDENT, CONFLICTING TESTIMONY RAISED QUESTION OF FACT ABOUT APPLICABILITY OF THE EMERGENCY DOCTRINE)