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ALTHOUGH PLAINTIFF TURNED RIGHT INTO DEFENDANT DRIVER’S PATH AT AN INTERSECTION, DEFENDANT DRIVER DID NOT DEMONSTRATE FREEDOM FROM FAULT AND DEFENDANT TOWN DID NOT DEMONSTRATE FOLIAGE OBSTRUCTING A STOP SIGN DID NOT CONTRIBUTE TO THE ACCIDENT, DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendant driver and municipality's motions for summary judgment in this intersection accident case should not have been granted. Apparently plaintiff made a right turn at an intersection into the path of defendant driver, Ayers. According to Ayers, plaintiff did not stop at the stop sign before turning. Plaintiff alleged foliage obscured the stop sign:

The driver defendants failed to eliminate triable issues of fact as to whether Ayers contributed to the happening of the accident. In particular, Ayers testified at his deposition that he was traveling 40 miles per hour as he approached the intersection, and that although nothing obstructed his view of the intersection, he did not see the plaintiff's vehicle until he was one car length from the intersection. Further, Ayers could not say whether he took any evasive action to avoid the collision. Under the circumstances, it cannot be said as a matter of law that Ayers used reasonable care to avoid the accident … ….

Contrary to the Town's contention, there is evidence in the record that the foliage which allegedly obscured the stop sign was located within the right-of-way of a Town road. …

The Town further failed to eliminate triable issues of fact as to whether any such obstruction of the stop sign was a proximate cause of the accident. “Such proximate cause may be found only where it is shown that it was the very [obstruction] of the stop sign . . . which rendered the driver[ ] unaware of the need to stop before proceeding across the intersection'”… . Where the driver “had all the warning, all the notice of danger, that a stop sign would have afforded,” there is no basis for finding that the obstruction of a sign caused the driver “to do anything other than [he or] she would have done had it been present” … .

The Town failed to demonstrate, prima facie, that despite the obstructed stop sign, the plaintiff, who was lost in an unfamiliar area, “had all the warning, all the notice of danger, that a stop sign would have afforded”… . In particular, the Town presented no definitive evidence of either the plaintiff's knowledge of the need to stop at the intersection, or conditions necessitating that she bring her vehicle to a complete stop prior to entering the intersection. Viewing the record evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, and resolving all reasonable inferences in her favor … , the Town failed to eliminate issues of fact as to whether the obstruction of the stop sign contributed, to some degree, to the happening of the accident. Rivera v Town of Wappinger, 2018 NY Slip Op 05953, Second Dept 8-29-18

NEGLIGENCE (ALTHOUGH PLAINTIFF TURNED RIGHT INTO DEFENDANT DRIVER'S PATH AT AN INTERSECTION, DEFENDANT DRIVER DID NOT DEMONSTRATE FREEDOM FROM FAULT AND DEFENDANT TOWN DID NOT DEMONSTRATE FOLIAGE OBSTRUCTING A STOP SIGN DID NOT CONTRIBUTE TO THE ACCIDENT, DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT))/TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS (ALTHOUGH PLAINTIFF TURNED RIGHT INTO DEFENDANT DRIVER'S PATH AT AN INTERSECTION, DEFENDANT DRIVER DID NOT DEMONSTRATE FREEDOM FROM FAULT AND DEFENDANT TOWN DID NOT DEMONSTRATE FOLIAGE OBSTRUCTING A STOP SIGN DID NOT CONTRIBUTE TO THE ACCIDENT, DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT))/MUNICIPAL LAW (TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS, ALTHOUGH PLAINTIFF TURNED RIGHT INTO DEFENDANT DRIVER'S PATH AT AN INTERSECTION, DEFENDANT DRIVER DID NOT DEMONSTRATE FREEDOM FROM FAULT AND DEFENDANT TOWN DID NOT DEMONSTRATE FOLIAGE OBSTRUCTING A STOP SIGN DID NOT CONTRIBUTE TO THE ACCIDENT, DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT))

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DEFENDANT DEFAULTED IN THIS CHILD VICTIMS ACT CASE ALLEGING HE SEXUALLY ABUSED PLAINTIFF; DEFENDANT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO DENY THE ABUSE IN THE DAMAGES TRIAL; NEW DAMAGES TRIAL ORDERED (SECOND DEPT). ​
THE JUDGE’S LAW CLERK WAS A DA WHO HAD WORKED ON DEFENDANT’S CASE; THE JUDGE SHOULD HAVE RECUSED HIMSELF FROM THE SENTENCING (SECOND DEPT).
ALTHOUGH THE CORD WHICH ALLEGEDLY CAUSED PLAINTIFF’S SLIP AND FALL MAY HAVE BEEN OPEN AND OBVIOUS, DEFENDANTS DID NOT DEMONSTRATE IT WAS NOT INHERENTLY DANGEROUS; DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT).
DEFENDANT WAS ENTITLED TO A HEARING ON HER MOTION FOR RESENTENCING WHICH ALLEGED SHE WAS THE VICTIM OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AT THE TIME OF THE COMMISSION OF THE CRIME (SECOND DEPT).
DEFENDANTS’ CAR WAS STOPPED IN THE SHOULDER LANE FOR A NON-EMERGENCY REASON WHEN THE CAR IN WHICH PLAINTIFF WAS A PASSENGER STRUCK IT FROM BEHIND; THERE WERE QUESTIONS OF FACT WHETHER STOPPING THE CAR IN THE SHOULDER LANE FOR A NON-EMERGENCY REASON WAS A PROXIMATE CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT (AS OPPOSED TO MERELY FURNISHING THE OCCASION FOR THE ACCIDENT?) (SECOND DEPT).
ALTHOUGH COMPLAINANT DID NOT DEMONSTRATE SHE WAS DISCRIMINATED AGAINST BY THE COOPERATIVE BASED UPON A DISABILITY, COMPLAINANT DID DEMONSTRATE THE COOPERATIVE IMPROPERLY RETALIATED AGAINST HER AFTER SHE FILED THE DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT WITH THE NYS DIVISION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.
FATHER’S PARENTAL ACCESS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN CONDITIONED UPON HIS PARTICIPATION IN COUNSELING OR TREATMENT (SECOND DEPT).

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