Opinion
570550/03, 03-276-277.
Decided March 11, 2004.
Defendants appeal from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County, dated January 3, 2003 (Irving Rosen, J.) which denied their motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, and from an order of the same court and Judge dated March 27, 2003, which, upon reargument, adhered to the prior decision.
Orders dated January 3, 2003 and March 27, 2003 (Irving Rosen, J.) affirmed, with $10 costs.
PRESENT: HON. WILLIAM P. McCOOE, J.P. HON. WILLIAM J. DAVIS HON. MARTIN SCHOENFELD, Justices.
The first-named plaintiff allegedly sustained injuries while riding on a bus owned by defendant New York Bus Service and driven by the individual defendant. We agree that plaintiff raised a triable issue as to the negligent operation of the bus through evidence, including eyewitness deposition testimony and affidavit statements, showing that the bus "bounced-up" when it rode over a pothole at a high rate of speed; that the jolt caused a loud "boom" and was of such force as to have propelled plaintiff and other passengers "up off [their] seat[s]"; that plaintiff struck his head on "the top of the bus" and ultimately landed on the lap of a fellow passenger who was seated opposite from him; and that the incident was sufficiently out of the ordinary to have provoked the bus driver to announce over the loudspeaker system, apparently in jest, that he "did that just to wake everyone up," or words to that effect. Plaintiff's proof thus "provided objective evidence of the force of the [jolt] sufficient to establish an inference that the [jolt] was extraordinary and violent, of a different class than the jerks and jolts commonly experienced in city bus travel and, therefore, attributable to the negligence of defendant." ( Urquhart v. New York City Tr. Auth., 85 NY2d 828, 830; see, Harris v. Manhattan Surface Tr. Operating Auth., 138 AD2d 56).
This constitutes the decision and order of the court.