Opinion
2001-08374
Argued October 22, 2002.
November 25, 2002.
In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., the defendant County of Nassau appeals from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Cozzens, J.), entered August 13, 2001, which, upon a jury verdict on the issue of liability finding it 70% at fault in the happening of the accident, and upon the denial of its motion pursuant to CPLR 4404(a) to set aside the verdict on the issue of liability and for judgment as a matter of law, is in favor of the plaintiffs and against it in the principal sum of $75,000.
Lorna B. Goodman, County Attorney, Mineola, N.Y. (Montfort, Healy, McGuire Salley [James J. Keefe, Jr., and David Goldin] of counsel), for appellant.
Weissman Weissman, Mineola, N.Y. (Stanley Weissman and Jeffrey Weissman of counsel), for respondents.
Before: A. GAIL PRUDENTI, P.J., MYRIAM J. ALTMAN, WILLIAM D. FRIEDMANN, REINALDO E. RIVERA, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.
On November 28, 1994, the plaintiff Louis A. Furino lost control of a motor vehicle that he was operating on Quaker Meeting House Road in Farmingdale, and collided with another vehicle. The jury returned a verdict finding that "the studies, investigations or inquiries undertaken by [the defendant] the County of Nassau regarding Quaker Meeting House Road [were] plainly inadequate." We find that this aspect of the verdict was supported by a valid line of reasoning and permissible inferences which could lead rational people to the conclusion reached by the jury (see Weiss v. Fote, 7 N.Y.2d 579; see also Ernest v. Red Creek Cent. School Dist., 93 N.Y.2d 664; Friedman v. State of New York, 67 N.Y.2d 271; Zawacki v. County of Nassau, 299 A.D.2d 542 [decided herewith]).
The appellant's remaining contentions are without merit.
PRUDENTI, P.J., ALTMAN, FRIEDMANN and RIVERA, JJ., concur.