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COUNTY DID NOT DEMONSTRATE THE INSTALLATION OF A GUARD RAIL WAS PRECEDED BY A DELIBERATIVE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS, SUMMARY JUDGMENT BASED UPON QUALIFIED IMMUNITY SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED 4TH DEPT.

The Fourth Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined that the county had not sufficiently demonstrated a deliberative decision-making process preceding the installation of a particular type of roadway guard rail. It was alleged plaintiff’s decedent’s car was launched 90 feet after striking the sloping end of the guard rail. The county’s summary judgment motion, based upon qualified immunity, should not have been granted:

We conclude that the County failed to meet its initial burden of establishing its entitlement to summary judgment based on qualified immunity … . In particular, the County failed to establish that the decision to change the end assembly of the guide rail from a Type I to a Type II end assembly was “the product of a deliberative decision-making process, of the type afforded immunity from judicial interference”… . Rather, the record reflects that the decision to change the guide rail end assembly was made after Phelps [the guard rail installer] conducted a walk-through and learned that the owners of a hay field needed a “field drive” to allow them to access County Route 41. Although the County submitted evidence that the change order completed by Phelps was signed by FRA [the engineers], there is no showing by the County that there was prior input from FRA regarding the change and, importantly, no analysis to support the decision for the change. Moreover, although the County contended on its motion that it followed the requisite standards of the New York State Department of Transportation, we note that the County’s expert erroneously combined the criteria for two separate uses of Type II end assemblies into one standard. Morris v Ontario County, 2017 NY Slip Op 05533, 4th Dept 7-7-17

NEGLIGENCE (TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS, IMMUNITY, COUNTY DID NOT DEMONSTRATE THE INSTALLATION OF A GUARD RAIL WAS PRECEDED BY A DELIBERATIVE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS, SUMMARY JUDGMENT BASED UPON QUALIFIED IMMUNITY SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED 4TH DEPT)/MUNICIPAL LAW (TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS, HIGHWAY DESIGN, IMMUNITY, COUNTY DID NOT DEMONSTRATE THE INSTALLATION OF A GUARD RAIL WAS PRECEDED BY A DELIBERATIVE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS, SUMMARY JUDGMENT BASED UPON QUALIFIED IMMUNITY SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED 4TH DEPT)/IMMUNITY (MUNICIPAL LAW, HIGHWAY DESIGN, TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS,  COUNTY DID NOT DEMONSTRATE THE INSTALLATION OF A GUARD RAIL WAS PRECEDED BY A DELIBERATIVE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS, SUMMARY JUDGMENT BASED UPON QUALIFIED IMMUNITY SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED 4TH DEPT)/TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS (MUNICIPAL LAW, HIGHWAY DESIGN, IMMUNITY, COUNTY DID NOT DEMONSTRATE THE INSTALLATION OF A GUARD RAIL WAS PRECEDED BY A DELIBERATIVE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS, SUMMARY JUDGMENT BASED UPON QUALIFIED IMMUNITY SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED 4TH DEPT)/HIGHWAY DESIGN (MUNICIPAL LAW, TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS, IMMUNITY, COUNTY DID NOT DEMONSTRATE THE INSTALLATION OF A GUARD RAIL WAS PRECEDED BY A DELIBERATIVE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS, SUMMARY JUDGMENT BASED UPON QUALIFIED IMMUNITY SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED 4TH DEPT)

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