Opinion
2022-00641 Index 451333/18
02-01-2022
Karina Sigalovskaya, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. New York City Transit Authority, Defendant, MTA Bus Company, et al., Defendants-Appellants. Appeal No. 15186 Case No. 2021-03438
Morris Duffy Alonso Faley & Pitcoff, New York (Iryna S. Krauchanka and Andrea M. Alonso of counsel), for appellants. William Schwitzer & Associates, P.C., New York (D. Allen Zachary of counsel), for respondent.
Morris Duffy Alonso Faley & Pitcoff, New York (Iryna S. Krauchanka and Andrea M. Alonso of counsel), for appellants.
William Schwitzer & Associates, P.C., New York (D. Allen Zachary of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Kern, J.P., Friedman, Singh, Scarpulla, Rodriguez, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Suzanne Adams, J.), entered on or about August 30, 2021, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, granted plaintiff's motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability and, pursuant to CPLR 3211(b), to dismiss defendants' MTA Bus Company and Eddie J. Williams's affirmative defenses, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
In opposition to plaintiff's showing that defendants' vehicle rear-ended her vehicle, defendants offered the explanation that plaintiff's vehicle stopped abruptly. This assertion fails to constitute a nonnegligent explanation for the accident that would raise an issue of fact as to liability, since it does not explain why defendant driver failed to maintain a safe distance between his vehicle and the one ahead of it (see Urena v GVC Ltd., 160 A.D.3d 467 [1st Dept 2018]).