Opinion
March 31, 1966
Judgment in favor of plaintiffs unanimously modified, on the law, to the extent of reversing the judgment against defendant Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority and dismissing the complaint against said defendant, and of eliminating defendants Otis Leroy Bellamy and Surethia Bellamy as judgment debtors, and otherwise affirmed, with costs and disbursements to the Authority against plaintiffs, and with costs and disbursements to plaintiffs against defendants Jose Colindres and Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation. The predicate of the Authority's alleged liability is that after the collision of the Bellamy car and the Colindres car the bus driver had sufficient time to take action which would have avoided the collision of the bus with the Colindres car. In no aspect of the evidence could such a conclusion reasonably be reached. The two impacts were almost instantaneous; and if the bus was following the Colindres car as plaintiffs claim, there is no evidence that it was following too closely. The finding of negligence on the part of the Authority has only speculation to support it. We think the judgment in other respects proper, but the inadvertent inclusion of the Bellamy defendants, contrary to the verdict in their favor, should of course be corrected. Settle order on notice.
Concur — Botein, P.J., Breitel, Eager, Steuer and Bastow, JJ.