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Healy v. Consolidated Rail Corporation

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Jan 16, 1990
157 A.D.2d 507 (N.Y. App. Div. 1990)

Opinion

January 16, 1990

Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Martin B. Stecher, J.).


Plaintiff's automobile was struck by defendant's train as the plaintiff was proceeding across a "grade crossing" in Springdale, Connecticut. Based primarily upon the testimony of defendant's engineer, who stated that he saw the proper warning lights working as plaintiff and the train approached the crossing, and the testimony of a responding police officer and defendant's employee, who stated that the system was still operating 10 minutes and one hour after the accident, respectively, the jury found that the warning equipment was operating properly when plaintiff's vehicle approached the crossing. Thus, the jury returned a verdict of no liability.

The trial court's exclusion of plaintiff's evidence consisting primarily of testimony that the signal in question had malfunctioned on an unspecified prior occasion over a year before the occurrence, and on other unspecified occasions in years past, did not constitute an abuse of discretion. The proffered evidence was remote in time, and given the evidence that the system was inspected monthly and tested every other day, there was no proof that the equipment was in substantially the same condition on the date of the accident as it was at the times of the prior malfunctions (Hyde v. County of Rensselaer, 51 N.Y.2d 927, 928). Thus, the probative value and relevance of the evidence were extremely low.

Concur — Murphy, P.J., Sullivan, Ross, Rosenberger and Ellerin, JJ.


Summaries of

Healy v. Consolidated Rail Corporation

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Jan 16, 1990
157 A.D.2d 507 (N.Y. App. Div. 1990)
Case details for

Healy v. Consolidated Rail Corporation

Case Details

Full title:LEON HEALY et al., Appellants, v. CONSOLIDATED RAIL CORPORATION…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department

Date published: Jan 16, 1990

Citations

157 A.D.2d 507 (N.Y. App. Div. 1990)
549 N.Y.S.2d 700