Lam v. Dong
Opinion of the Court
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Paul Wooten, J.), entered October 2, 2009, which, in an action for personal injuries sustained when plaintiff pedestrian was struck by a motor vehicle, granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Defendants established their entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by submitting affirmed medical reports of an orthopedist and a neurologist who concluded that plaintiff did not sustain a “permanent consequential limitation of use” or “significant limitation of use” of his head, neck or left knee (Insurance Law § 5102 [d]). Defendants also submitted affirmed reports of two radiologists who concluded that the MRIs of plaintiff’s neck, left knee and brain revealed preexisting degenerative conditions in the neck and knee, and a prior stroke in the brain. Defendants further alluded to plaintiffs testimony that he had fractured his left knee 30 years ago.
In opposition, plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact. He presented an affirmed report of his orthopedist, who found limited ranges of motion in the neck and left knee over one year after the accident, and concluded that the injuries were causally related to the accident. However, absent admissible contemporaneous evidence of alleged limitations, plaintiff cannot raise an inference that his injuries were caused by the accident (see
Dismissal of plaintiffs 90/180-day claim was also appropriate, since plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact as to causation or submit medical proof in support of the claim (see Amamedi v Archibala, 70 AD3d 449, 450 [2010], lv denied 15 NY3d 713 [2010]; Valentin v Pomilla, 59 AD3d 184, 186-187 [2009]). Concur — Saxe, J.P, Catterson, Acosta, Abdus-Salaam and Román, JJ.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.