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DEFENDANT’S CAR WAS STRUCK BY AN ONCOMING CAR WHICH CROSSED A DOUBLE YELLOW LINE; DEFENDANT WAS ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT PURSUANT TO THE EMERGENCY DOCTRINE (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court in this traffic accident case, determined defendant’s motion for summary judgment, based on the emergency doctrine, should have have been granted. A car traveling in the opposite direction crossed a double yellow line into the path of defendant’s car:

Pursuant to the emergency doctrine, “those faced with a sudden and unexpected circumstance, not of their own making, that leaves them with little or no time for reflection or reasonably causes them to be so disturbed that they are compelled to make a quick decision without weighing alternative courses of conduct, may not be negligent if their actions are reasonable and prudent in the context of the emergency” … . “Under appropriate circumstances, the existence of an emergency, as well as the reasonableness of the actor’s response to it, may be determined as a matter of law” … . “A driver is not obligated to anticipate that a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction will cross over into oncoming traffic, and such an event constitutes a classic emergency situation, thus implicating the emergency doctrine” … . Lizares v Conklin, 2023 NY Slip Op 01081, Second Dept 3-1-23

Practice Point: A driver is not obligated to anticipate that an oncoming car will cross a double yellow line into the driver’s lane. In such a situation, the emergency doctrine applies to insulate the driver from liability.

 

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