Opinion
April 29, 1991
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (Katz, J.).
Ordered that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, as a matter of discretion, with costs, and that branch of the plaintiff's motion which was for a joint trial of the two actions is granted.
The actions involved herein arose from two separate automobile accidents, each involving a bus owned by the defendant Jamaica Buses, Inc. The plaintiff, who was a passenger on the defendant's bus on both occasions, alleged that the second accident aggravated injuries caused by the first accident, and supported this allegation with a medical affidavit.
Under these circumstances, and in the absence of demonstrable prejudice to the defendants, the interests of justice and judicial economy would best be served by a joint trial (see, Obeid v. Thermo Natl. Indus., 146 A.D.2d 616; Dolce v. Jones, 145 A.D.2d 594; Boyman v. Bryant, 133 A.D.2d 802; Megyesi v. Automotive Rentals, 115 A.D.2d 596; see also, Heck v. Waldbaum's Supermarkets, 134 A.D.2d 568). Therefore, we substitute our discretion for that of the trial court by granting that branch of the plaintiff's motion which was for a joint trial. Mangano, P.J., Brown, Sullivan, Harwood and Miller, JJ., concur.