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WITNESS TESTIMONY DEMONSTRATED CLAIMANT LOST CONTROL OF HIS MOTORCYCLE AFTER GETTING CAUGHT IN A RUT IN THE ROAD; THE STATE HAD TAKEN PICTURES A FEW MONTHS BEFORE WHICH DEPICTED THE ROAD DEFECT; DEFENSE VERDICT REVERSED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing the Court of Claims, determined the state had actual or constructive notice of the road defect which caused claimant to lose control of his motorcycle. Photographs of the area, taken by the State a few months before claimant’s accident in connection with the clean-up of a fuel-truck-accident, depicted the road defect:

Anthony Monzillo testified that he was riding his own motorcycle approximately 15 to 20 feet behind the claimant, and he observed the front wheel of the claimant’s motorcycle go into a “rutted area” and “get caught and begin to wobble side to side” and saw the motorcycle fall over. * * *

Quadri [a State engineer] oversaw the clean-up and remedial work of the roadway in April and May 2017, following the truck accident, and photographs taken in April 2017 of the clean-up and remediation work depicted the defect in the roadway. Quadri testified that he was at the truck accident site at least six times during April and May 2017. While Quadri acknowledged during his testimony that he could see “a separation in the pavement” in a photograph taken in April or May 2017, he further testified that he could not remember seeing the separation in the pavement when he was at the site in April 2017. Quadri also testified that DOT maintenance crews would patrol Route 293 at least once a week looking for areas that require maintenance or repairs and would repair “potholes in the travel lanes . . . right away.” … . …

Based upon our review of the record, including the photographs and the witnesses’ testimony, we conclude that the claimant met his burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence the existence of a dangerous condition of which the defendant was actually or constructively aware and which it failed to take reasonable measures to correct and that such failure was a proximate cause of the claimant’s accident … . Paci v State of New York, 2024 NY Slip Op 06569, Second Dept 12-24-24

Practice Point: A witness demonstrated the road defect caused claimant’s accident. Photographs demonstrated the State had constructive notice of the road defect. The defense verdict was not supported.

 

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