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DEFENDANT DRIVER ADMITTED IN THE ACCIDENT REPORT HE WAS AWARE THE ROADS WERE WET AND SLIPPERY AT THE TIME THE DEFENDANT’S BUS SKIDDED INTO PLAINTIFF’S BUS AFTER HITTING A PUDDLE, PLAINTIFF ALLEGED DEFENDANT DRIVER WAS GOING TOO FAST FOR CONDITIONS, PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED, DESPITE DEFENDANT’S DENIAL OF HIS ADMISSION IN HIS AFFIDAVIT OPPOSING THE MOTION (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment in this traffic accident case should have been granted. The plaintiff’s affidavit and the accident report indicated that, after traveling through a puddle of water, the defendant’s bus slid, hit a wall and then rolled into the middle lane, striking plaintiff’s bus.  The complaint alleged the driver of defendant’s bus was travelling too fast for the conditions. The court noted that a plaintiff no longer needs to demonstrate the absence of comparative negligence to be awarded summary judgment on liability. The court rejected the emergency defense because defendant driver had acknowledged in the accident report he was aware the roads were wet and slippery. The court further found that the defendant’s affidavit, in which he stated he did not observe any wet or slippery conditions before the accident ,”appears to have been submitted to avoid the consequences of his prior admission . . . and, thus, is insufficient to defeat plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment:

… [P]laintiff submitted an affidavit in which he swore that the road was wet and slippery, that puddles had formed, and that the driver of defendants’ bus was traveling at too fast a rate of speed under these circumstances, lost control, and struck plaintiff’s bus in the neighboring lane. In defendants’ accident report, relied on by plaintiff before the motion court and by defendants in their appellate brief, the driver of defendants’ bus stated that, as he drove over a puddle of water, the back wheels “beg[a]n to slide and the bus hit the wall and rolled into the middle lane,” striking plaintiff’s bus. Together, plaintiff’s affidavit, and defendants’ accident report, the authenticity and accuracy of which are not disputed, established plaintiff’s prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law on the issue of liability … .

In opposition, defendants failed to raise a triable issue of fact. Defendant driver submitted an affidavit in which he claimed that he was operating his bus at a reasonable speed “considering the conditions then existing.” At the same time, he did not deny that the roads were wet and slippery, but claimed that he did not “observe any accumulation of water or other slippery roadway condition,” even though in his accident report he admitted to having driven over a puddle. Martinez v WE Transp. Inc., 2018 NY Slip Op 03311, First Dept 5-8-18

​NEGLIGENCE (TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS, DEFENDANT DRIVER ADMITTED IN THE ACCIDENT REPORT HE WAS AWARE THE ROADS WERE WET AND SLIPPERY AT THE TIME THE DEFENDANT’S BUS SKIDDED INTO PLAINTIFF’S BUS AFTER HITTING A PUDDLE, PLAINTIFF ALLEGED DEFENDANT DRIVER WAS GOING TOO FAST FOR CONDITIONS, PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED, DESPITE DEFENDANT’S DENIAL OF HIS ADMISSION IN HIS AFFIDAVIT OPPOSING THE MOTION (FIRST DEPT))/TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS DEFENDANT DRIVER ADMITTED IN THE ACCIDENT REPORT HE WAS AWARE THE ROADS WERE WET AND SLIPPERY AT THE TIME THE DEFENDANT’S BUS SKIDDED INTO PLAINTIFF’S BUS AFTER HITTING A PUDDLE, PLAINTIFF ALLEGED DEFENDANT DRIVER WAS GOING TOO FAST FOR CONDITIONS, PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED, DESPITE DEFENDANT’S DENIAL OF HIS ADMISSION IN HIS AFFIDAVIT OPPOSING THE MOTION (FIRST DEPT))/EVIDENCE (TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS, SUMMARY JUDGMENT, DEFENDANT DRIVER ADMITTED IN THE ACCIDENT REPORT HE WAS AWARE THE ROADS WERE WET AND SLIPPERY AT THE TIME THE DEFENDANT’S BUS SKIDDED INTO PLAINTIFF’S BUS AFTER HITTING A PUDDLE, PLAINTIFF ALLEGED DEFENDANT DRIVER WAS GOING TOO FAST FOR CONDITIONS, PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED, DESPITE DEFENDANT’S DENIAL OF HIS ADMISSION IN HIS AFFIDAVIT OPPOSING THE MOTION (FIRST DEPT))/SUMMARY JUDGMENT (EVIDENCE, TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS, DEFENDANT DRIVER ADMITTED IN THE ACCIDENT REPORT HE WAS AWARE THE ROADS WERE WET AND SLIPPERY AT THE TIME THE DEFENDANT’S BUS SKIDDED INTO PLAINTIFF’S BUS AFTER HITTING A PUDDLE, PLAINTIFF ALLEGED DEFENDANT DRIVER WAS GOING TOO FAST FOR CONDITIONS, PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED, DESPITE DEFENDANT’S DENIAL OF HIS ADMISSION IN HIS AFFIDAVIT OPPOSING THE MOTION (FIRST DEPT))/ACCIDENT REPORTS (TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS, DEFENDANT DRIVER ADMITTED IN THE ACCIDENT REPORT HE WAS AWARE THE ROADS WERE WET AND SLIPPERY AT THE TIME THE DEFENDANT’S BUS SKIDDED INTO PLAINTIFF’S BUS AFTER HITTING A PUDDLE, PLAINTIFF ALLEGED DEFENDANT DRIVER WAS GOING TOO FAST FOR CONDITIONS, PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED, DESPITE DEFENDANT’S DENIAL OF HIS ADMISSION IN HIS AFFIDAVIT OPPOSING THE MOTION (FIRST DEPT))

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