Opinion
13578, 303460/10
11-20-2014
Victor PANTOJAS, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. Mamadou NIANG, Defendant–Respondent.
Michelle S. Russo, P.C., Port Washington (Michelle S. Russo of counsel), for appellant. Russo, Apoznanski & Tambasco, Melville (Gerard Ferrara of counsel), for respondent.
Michelle S. Russo, P.C., Port Washington (Michelle S. Russo of counsel), for appellant. Russo, Apoznanski & Tambasco, Melville (Gerard Ferrara of counsel), for respondent.
RENWICK, J.P., SAXE, MOSKOWITZ, DeGRASSE, RICHTER, JJ.
Opinion Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Faviola A. Soto, J.), entered September 16, 2013, which granted defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, and the motion denied.
The motion for summary judgment should have been denied, as defendant made the motion more than 120 days after the note of issue was filed, and he failed to show good cause for doing so (CPLR 3212[a] ; Miceli v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 3 N.Y.3d 725, 786 N.Y.S.2d 379, 819 N.E.2d 995 [2004] ; Brill v. City of New York, 2 N.Y.3d 648, 652, 781 N.Y.S.2d 261, 814 N.E.2d 431 [2004] ). In any event, defendant failed to establish prima facie that he was not the owner of the vehicle that struck plaintiff's car, as the DMV Abstract of Registration shows that he had been issued license plates with the number that plaintiff alleged was on the plates on the vehicle that struck him, and the abstract shows that defendant did not surrender those plates until after the accident (see Phoenix Ins. Co. v. Guthiel, 2 N.Y.2d 584, 587–588, 161 N.Y.S.2d 874, 141 N.E.2d 909 [1957] ; Morgan v. Termine, 2 Misc.2d 109, 149 N.Y.S.2d 42 [Sup.Ct., Kings County 1956] ). Nor did the Declaration Sheet for Insurance Coverage establish as a matter of law that defendant did not own the vehicle that struck plaintiff's car.