Opinion
November 13, 1995
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Burrows, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.
The gravamen of the plaintiff's complaint is that the motor vehicle accident which resulted in the death of Emad Samuel was caused by the defendant's negligence in overloading the van Samuel was operating at the time of the accident. In light of the plaintiff's failure to comply prior to trial with the defendant's discovery demand seeking the names and addresses of all of the witnesses the plaintiff expected to call to testify at trial, it was proper to preclude the plaintiff from introducing any such testimony (see, Hughes v Elias, 120 A.D.2d 703). In the absence of any such testimony, the plaintiff could not establish that the van was overloaded or that this condition was the proximate cause of the accident. Thus, the plaintiff could not make out a prima facie case of negligence, and the defendant's motion to dismiss was properly granted (see, De Vito v Katsch, 157 A.D.2d 413, 418). Sullivan, J.P., Thompson, Copertino, Krausman and Florio, JJ., concur.