SIGNALING THE DRIVER TO STOP FURNISHED THE CONDITION FOR THE ACCIDENT BUT WAS NOT THE PROXIMATE CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT, THE DRIVER’S DECISION TO BACK UP WAS THE PROXIMATE CAUSE OF HER STRIKING PLAINTIFF’S DECEDENT (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department determined defendant corporation’s (FHGC’s) motion for summary judgment in this traffic accident case was properly granted. FHGC was re-sodding an area near the curb. FHGC’s employee signaled to defendant driver to stop. Defendant driver (Miketta) then backed down the road and struck plaintiff’s decedent. Plaintiff sued Miketta and FHGC. The court held that the order to stop merely furnished a condition for the accident to occur, but was not a proximate cause of the accident:
… “[L]iability may not be imposed upon a party who merely furnished the condition or occasion for the occurrence of the event’ but was not one of its causes” … .
… FHGC demonstrated its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by presenting evidence that its employees’ conduct in performing work near the roadway merely furnished the condition or occasion for the accident, and was not a proximate cause of the decedent’s injuries. Miketta’s decision to reverse her vehicle and drive back down the one-way street, ultimately striking the decedent, was the sole proximate cause of the accident … . Goldstein v Kingston, 2017 NY Slip Op 06429, Second Dept 9-13-17
NEGLIGENCE (SIGNALING THE DRIVER TO STOP FURNISHED THE CONDITION FOR THE ACCIDENT BUT WAS NOT THE PROXIMATE CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT, THE DRIVER’S DECISION TO BACK UP WAS THE PROXIMATE CAUSE OF HER STRIKING PLAINTIFF’S DECEDENT (SECOND DEPT))/TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS (SIGNALING THE DRIVER TO STOP FURNISHED THE CONDITION FOR THE ACCIDENT BUT WAS NOT THE PROXIMATE CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT, THE DRIVER’S DECISION TO BACK UP WAS THE PROXIMATE CAUSE OF HER STRIKING PLAINTIFF’S DECEDENT (SECOND DEPT))/PEDESTRIANS (SIGNALING THE DRIVER TO STOP FURNISHED THE CONDITION FOR THE ACCIDENT BUT WAS NOT THE PROXIMATE CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT, THE DRIVER’S DECISION TO BACK UP WAS THE PROXIMATE CAUSE OF HER STRIKING PLAINTIFF’S DECEDENT (SECOND DEPT))