Cartagena v Martinez |
2013 NY Slip Op 08516 [112 AD3d 521] |
December 19, 2013 |
Appellate Division, First Department |
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
Ralph Cartagena, Appellant, v Jose N. Orellana Martinez et al., Respondents. |
—[*1]
Law Offices of James J. Toomey, New York (Eric P. Tosca of counsel), for respondents.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Julia Rodriguez, J.), entered July 12, 2013, which denied plaintiff's motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, and the motion granted.
Plaintiff established his entitlement to judgment as a matter of law on the issue of liability in this action for personal injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident. The record demonstrates that defendants' truck hit plaintiff's stopped car in the rear, in stop-and-go traffic (see Tutrani v County of Suffolk, 10 NY3d 906, 908 [2008]).
Defendants' opposition fails to raise a triable issue of fact. Although defendant driver stated that plaintiff's car cut off his truck, he also testified that he did not see plaintiff's vehicle until after the collision. Thus, defendants' purported nonnegligent explanation for the collision was speculative (see Rodriguez v Chapman-Perry, 82 AD3d 638 [1st Dept 2011]; Davis v Quinones, 295 AD2d 394 [2d Dept 2002]). Concur—Tom, J.P., Andrias, Saxe, DeGrasse and Richter, JJ.