Stewart v. Prospect Transp. Inc.

2025 NY Slip Op 03151

Opinion

Stewart v Prospect Transp. Inc. (2025 NY Slip Op 03151)

Stewart v Prospect Transp. Inc.

2025 NY Slip Op 03151

Decided on May 22, 2025

Appellate Division, First Department

Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.

This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided and Entered: May 22, 2025
Before: Kern, J.P., González, Rodriguez, Pitt-Burke, Higgitt, JJ.

Index No. 815599/22|Appeal No. 4412|Case No. 2024-06140|

[*1]Eddie Stewart, Plaintiff-Appellant, Soribell Molina, Plaintiff,

v

Prospect Transportation Inc., et al., Defendants-Respondents.

Law Offices of Brian Rayhill, Elmsford (Renaud T. Bleecker of counsel), for appellant.

Fixler & Lagattuta, LLP, New York (Luigi Tollis of counsel), for respondents.

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Ben R. Barbato, J.), entered September 11, 2024, which denied plaintiff Eddie Stewart's motion for summary judgment dismissing defendants' counterclaim for indemnification or contribution, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Defendants asserted a counterclaim for indemnification or contribution as against Stewart, the driver, should plaintiff Soribell Molina, allegedly a passenger in the vehicle, recover damages in this personal injury action. Supreme Court properly denied Stewart's motion for summary judgment dismissing that counterclaim because this pre-discovery motion was premature. Given the parties' conflicting accounts of the incident, defendants are entitled to discovery from Stewart and Molina concerning the circumstances surrounding the accident, including why Stewart stopped and whether Molina was in plaintiffs' car at the time of the accident (see CPLR 3212[f]).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.

ENTERED: May 22, 2025