Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1997

Sass v. Ambu Trans, Inc.

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York · Decided April 28, 1997

238 A.D.2d 570; 657 N.Y.S.2d 69; 1997 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4404

Cases that cite this one

15 later published cases cite this decision.

Lewin v. Olowokere (District Court, S.D. New York 2024)
Zitny v. Mancini (District Court, S.D. New York 2020)
Shehab v. Powers (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2017)
Cajas-Romero v. Ward (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2013)
Cajas-Romero v. Ward (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2013)
Lowhar-Lewis v. Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2012)
Lowhar-Lewis v. Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2012)
Jacobellis v. New York State Thruway Authority (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2008)
Preziosi v. Kantor (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2001)
Kachuba v. A & G Cleaning Service, Inc. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2000)
Johnson v. Phillips (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1999)
Pappas v. Opitz (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1999)
Campanella v. Moore (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1999)
Sorrentino v. Riemer (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1998)
Porcano v. Lehman (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1998)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

—In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the plaintiff appeals from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Underwood, J.), entered April 24, 1996, which, upon a jury verdict on the issue of liability finding that the defendant was not negligent, dismissed the complaint.

Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law, with costs, the plaintiff is awarded judgment as a matter of law on the issue of liability, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Suffolk County, for entry of an interlocutory judgment in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant on the issue of liability and for a trial on damages.

In this automobile accident case involving a rear-end collision, the defendant’s driver did not submit adequate evidence to rebut the presumption that he was negligent. The defendant’s driver breached his duty to maintain a reasonably safe distance between himself and the traffic he was following and to be aware of traffic conditions, including a stoppage in traffic caused by another driver several cars ahead of the defendant’s driver (see, Barba v Best Sec. Corp., 235 AD2d 381; Bando-Twomey v Richheimer, 229 AD2d 554; Lectora v Gundrum, 225 AD2d 738; McCarthy v Miller, 139 AD2d 500).

Furthermore, the emergency doctrine is inapplicable to this routine rear-end traffic accident (see, McCarthy v Miller, supra).

There being no further issue of fact, we award the plaintiff judgment as a matter of law on the issue of liability (see, e.g., Cohen v Terranella, 112 AD2d 264). The matter is remitted to *571the Supreme Court for a trial on the issue of damages only. Miller, J. P., Joy, Goldstein and Florio, JJ., concur.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.