BENCH TRIAL VERDICT REVERSED, COMMON CARRIER NOT LIABLE FOR BUS PASSENGER’S SLIP AND FALL ON BLACK ICE AFTER STEPPING OFF THE BUS (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing a bench trial verdict in Supreme Court, determined defendant transit authority was not liable for plaintiff’s slip and fall on black ice upon exiting defendant’s bus:

The defendant, as a common carrier, “owe[d] a duty to alighting passenger[s] to stop at a place where [they] may safely disembark and leave the area” … , and towards that end “to exercise reasonable and commensurate care in view of the dangers to be apprehended” … . However, whether the defendant has breached its duty to provide a passenger a safe place to alight from the bus will depend on whether the bus driver could have observed the dangerous condition from the driver’s vantage point… . Here, there was no evidence that the bus driver was aware of or reasonably should have been aware of the ice in the roadway. The fact that it was cold and there was a pile of snow near the rear exit does not create a basis to conclude that the bus driver should have known of the dangerous condition … . Guzman v New York City Tr. Auth., 2018 NY Slip Op 04310, Second Dept 6-13-18

​NEGLIGENCE (MUNICIPAL LAW, BUSES, BENCH TRIAL VERDICT REVERSED, COMMON CARRIER NOT LIABLE FOR BUS PASSENGER’S SLIP AND FALL ON BLACK ICE AFTER STEPPING OFF THE BUS (SECOND DEPT))/MUNICIPAL LAW (BUSES, BENCH TRIAL VERDICT REVERSED, COMMON CARRIER NOT LIABLE FOR BUS PASSENGER’S SLIP AND FALL ON BLACK ICE AFTER STEPPING OFF THE BUS (SECOND DEPT))/BUSES (NEGLIGENCE, MUNICIPAL LAW, BENCH TRIAL VERDICT REVERSED, COMMON CARRIER NOT LIABLE FOR BUS PASSENGER’S SLIP AND FALL ON BLACK ICE AFTER STEPPING OFF THE BUS (SECOND DEPT))/SLIP AND FALL (NEGLIGENCE, MUNICIPAL LAW, BENCH TRIAL VERDICT REVERSED, COMMON CARRIER NOT LIABLE FOR BUS PASSENGER’S SLIP AND FALL ON BLACK ICE AFTER STEPPING OFF THE BUS (SECOND DEPT))