Anderson v. Thomas

128 A.D.3d 539, 9 N.Y.S.3d 261

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: May 19, 2015
• Docket: 15156 304651/12
• Status: Published

Opinion

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Wilma Guzman, J.), entered on or about June 27, 2014, which denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Defendant Thomas allegedly struck plaintiffs car while in a supermarket parking lot. Supreme Court correctly determined that issues of fact exist as to Thomas’s liability for the accident. Plaintiff testified that prior to pulling out of a parking space in the parking lot, she looked to her right and then to her left, and did not see any moving vehicles. She claims that she had already exited the parking space and was driving straight when defendants’ vehicle struck the front right bumper of her vehicle. Thomas testified that he was driving five miles per hour and did not see plaintiffs vehicle until after the accident. His wife, a passenger in their vehicle, also testified that she did not see plaintiffs vehicle until after the collision. Given defendants’ testimony that they did not see plaintiffs vehicle before the collision, they failed to establish Thomas’s lack of negligence (see Thoma v Ronai, 82 NY2d 736, 737 [1993]), or the applicability of the emergency doctrine (see Caristo v Sanzone, 96 NY2d 172, 174 [2001] [the doctrine only applies when the defendant is faced with a “sudden and unexpected circumstance” that “leaves little or no time for thought, deliberation or consideration”]).

We have considered defendants’ remaining contentions and find them unavailing. Concur — Mazzarelli, J.P., Acosta, Saxe, Manzanet-Daniels and Clark, JJ.