Furino v. County of Nassau

299 A.D.2d 519, 750 N.Y.S.2d 504

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: November 25, 2002
• Status: Published

Opinion

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., the defendant County of Nassau appeals from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Cozzens, J.), entered August 13, 2001, which, upon a jury verdict on the issue of liability finding it 70% at fault in the happening of the accident, and upon the denial of its motion pursuant to CPLR 4404 (a) to set aside the verdict on the issue of liability and for judgment as a matter of law, is in favor of the plaintiffs and against it in the principal sum of $75,000.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.

On November 28, 1994, the plaintiff Louis A. Furino lost control of a motor vehicle that he was operating on Quaker Meeting House Road in Farmingdale, and collided with another vehicle. The jury returned a verdict finding that “the studies, investigations or inquiries undertaken by [the defendant] the County of Nassau regarding Quaker Meeting House Road [were] plainly inadequate.” We find that this aspect of the verdict was supported by a valid line of reasoning and permissible inferences which could lead rational people to the conclusion reached by the jury (see Weiss v Fote, 7 NY2d 579; see also Ernest v Red Cr. Cent. School Dist., 93 NY2d 664; Friedman v State of New York, 67 NY2d 271; Zawacki v County of Nassau, 299 AD2d 542 [decided herewith]).

The appellant’s remaining contentions are without merit. Prudenti, P.J., Altman, Friedmann and Rivera, JJ., concur.