STATE WAS ENTITLED TO QUALIFIED IMMUNITY IN THIS NEGLIGENT HIGHWAY DESIGN CASE, CLAIMANT’S DECEDENT WAS KILLED WHEN HIS MOTORCYCLE STRUCK A CAR WHICH CROSSED THREE LANES OF TRAFFIC (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, reversing the Court of Claims, determined the state was entitled to qualified immunity in this motorcycle-car accident case. Claimant's decedent was killed when his motorcycle struck a car, driven by Carranca, as Carranca entered Sunrise Highway and crossed three lanes of traffic. Claimant's decedent alleged negligent design of the roadway. However the state had commissioned a study of the area which found no safety concerns and claimant's decedent's expert did not fault the study:
“To establish its entitlement to qualified immunity, the governmental body must demonstrate that the relevant discretionary determination by the governmental body was the result of a deliberative decision-making process. A municipality is entitled to qualified immunity where a governmental planning body has entertained and passed on the very same question of risk as would ordinarily go to the jury” … .
Here, the State submitted the Urbitran Report as evidence that it had studied the intersection at issue, as part of a larger study of a 1.2-mile stretch of Sunrise Highway. The Urbitran Report considered safety conditions and accident history, traffic volumes, “speeds and delay studies,” and traffic control devices. The State concluded that no additional safety measures were necessary regarding the right turn from Old Sunrise Highway onto eastbound Sunrise Highway. The claimant's expert conceded that the Urbitran Report found no safety problems with traffic from Old Sunrise Highway merging with eastbound Sunrise Highway, and further conceded that she found no deficiencies with the Urbitran Report. The subsequent placement of a traffic light at the intersection for reasons other than preventing the type of accident that occurred in this case does not affect the State's entitlement to qualified immunity for decisions pertaining to the right turn from Old Sunrise Highway onto eastbound Sunrise Highway. Iovine v State of New York, 2018 NY Slip Op 06723, Second Dept 10-10-18
COURT OF CLAIMS (NEGLIGENT HIGHWAY DESIGN, STATE WAS ENTITLED TO QUALIFIED IMMUNITY IN THIS NEGLIGENT HIGHWAY DESIGN CASE, CLAIMANT'S DECEDENT WAS KILLED WHEN HIS MOTORCYCLE STRUCK A CAR WHICH CROSSED THREE LANES OF TRAFFIC (SECOND DEPT))/IMMUNITY (NEGLIGENT HIGHWAY DESIGN, STATE WAS ENTITLED TO QUALIFIED IMMUNITY IN THIS NEGLIGENT HIGHWAY DESIGN CASE, CLAIMANT'S DECEDENT WAS KILLED WHEN HIS MOTORCYCLE STRUCK A CAR WHICH CROSSED THREE LANES OF TRAFFIC (SECOND DEPT))/NEGLIGENCE (HIGHWAY DESIGN, STATE WAS ENTITLED TO QUALIFIED IMMUNITY IN THIS NEGLIGENT HIGHWAY DESIGN CASE, CLAIMANT'S DECEDENT WAS KILLED WHEN HIS MOTORCYCLE STRUCK A CAR WHICH CROSSED THREE LANES OF TRAFFIC (SECOND DEPT))/HIGHWAYS AND ROADS (NEGLIGENT HIGHWAY DESIGN, STATE WAS ENTITLED TO QUALIFIED IMMUNITY IN THIS NEGLIGENT HIGHWAY DESIGN CASE, CLAIMANT'S DECEDENT WAS KILLED WHEN HIS MOTORCYCLE STRUCK A CAR WHICH CROSSED THREE LANES OF TRAFFIC (SECOND DEPT))/TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS (NEGLIGENT HIGHWAY DESIGN, STATE WAS ENTITLED TO QUALIFIED IMMUNITY IN THIS NEGLIGENT HIGHWAY DESIGN CASE, CLAIMANT'S DECEDENT WAS KILLED WHEN HIS MOTORCYCLE STRUCK A CAR WHICH CROSSED THREE LANES OF TRAFFIC (SECOND DEPT))