DEFENDANT DRIVER ATTEMPTED TO RAISE A FEIGNED FACTUAL ISSUE IN OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT BY CONTRADICTING A STATEMENT ATTRIBUTED TO DEFENDANT IN THE POLICE REPORT, PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN THIS INTERSECTION TRAFFIC ACCIDENT CASE SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment in this intersection traffic accident case should have been granted. Defendant driver (Karen) made a statement included in the police report indicating she did not see plaintiffs’ motorcycle before the accident. In response to plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment defendant driver (Karen) averred that she came to a stop at the stop sign, pulled out into the intersection and then saw the motorcycle moving “extremely fast.” The Second Department held that defendant had raised a feigned factual issue. The court also noted that, although the motion for summary judgment was made before discovery was complete, defendants did not show that additional discovery would lead to relevant evidence:

In support of their motion, the plaintiffs submitted, among other things, affidavits from the injured plaintiff and a witness, Shahiem Smith, who observed the collision. According to those affidavits, Karen drove … into the intersection without yielding the right-of-way to the injured plaintiff’s motorcycle in violation of Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1142(a) and struck the motorcycle as it was lawfully proceeding through the intersection … . “A violation of the Vehicle and Traffic Law constitutes negligence as a matter of law” … . Moreover, the plaintiffs also submitted a copy of a police accident report which contained Karen’s statement that she did not see the injured plaintiff. Therefore, the plaintiffs established their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law on the issue of liability … . Kerolle v Nicholson, 2019 NY Slip Op 03959, Second Dept 5-22-19