PLAINTIFF BICYCLIST WAS ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN THIS TRUCK-BICYCLE COLLISION CASE; THE TRUCK DRIVER BREACHED HIS DUTY TO SEE WHAT SHOULD BE SEEN (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined plaintiff bicyclist was entitled to summary judgment in this traffic accident case based upon the video taken from inside defendants’ truck (which collided with plaintiff):

The video footage taken from inside defendants’ truck shows plaintiff bicycling on the right side of the lane in front of Ortiz [the truck driver] before being struck … . Ortiz thus failed to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a bicyclist (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1146[a]), and breached his duty “to see what should be seen and to exercise reasonable care under the circumstances to avoid an accident”  … . Moreover, plaintiff was not required to demonstrate his own freedom from comparative negligence nor to show that defendants’ negligence was the sole proximate cause of the accident to be entitled to summary judgment … . Fernandez v Ortiz, 2020 NY Slip Op 02856, Second Dept 5-14-20