Summery Judgment Denied to Stopped Bus Sticking out into Travel Lane When Hit by Truck

Case: Pichardo v. Fernandez

Court: N.Y. County Supreme Court

Date: March 18, 2014

From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn and Queens; Queens injury attorney)

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Facts: This accident victim was a passenger on a bus that was rear-ended by a truck. The bus defendants have made motion to the Court seeking summary judgment, to let them out of this lawsuit.

The Court points out the well-established rule that a collision with the rear of a stopped or stopping vehicle creates a presumption of negligence on the part of the driver of the following vehicle. It is assumed that the driver of the front vehicle was not negligent.

The truck opposes summary judgment, claiming that the bus, while stopped, was sticking part-way out into a travel lane of the roadway.

Held: The motion for summary judgment by the bus is denied. There is an issue of fact, requiring resolution by a jury, as to whether the bus was negligent in partially blocking a traveling lane of the road and an issue of fact as to whether the bus contributed to the happening of this accident.