A Dan Jiang v. Jin-Liang Liu

• Decision Date: 18 July 2012
• Citation: 2012 N.Y. Slip Op. 05603,97 A.D.3d 707,948 N.Y.S.2d 675
• Parties: A DAN JIANG, etc., et al., respondents, v. JIN–LIANG LIU, et al., defendants, Sky Express, Inc., appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

97 A.D.3d 707
948 N.Y.S.2d 675
2012 N.Y. Slip Op. 05603

A DAN JIANG, etc., et al., respondents,
v.
JIN–LIANG LIU, et al., defendants,
Sky Express, Inc., appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

July 18, 2012.

Schoenfeld Moreland, P.C., New York, N.Y. (Matthew I. Toker of counsel), for appellant.

Caesar & Napoli, New York, N.Y. (Robert Stein of counsel), for respondents.

Leahey & Johnson, P.C., New York, N.Y. (James P. Tenney and Joanne Filiberti of counsel), for defendants Jin–Liang Liu and Huo Guang Chen.

REINALDO E. RIVERA, J.P., THOMAS A. DICKERSON, L. PRISCILLA HALL, and JEFFREY A. COHEN, JJ.

[948 N.Y.S.2d 676]

[97 A.D.3d 708]In an action to recover damages for personal injuries and wrongful death, etc., the defendant Sky Express, Inc., appeals, as limited by its brief, from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Schack, J.), dated January 3, 2011, as granted that branch of the plaintiffs' cross motion which was for summary judgment on the issue of liability insofar as asserted against it.

ORDERED that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with one bill of costs to the appellant payable by the respondents, and that branch of the plaintiffs' cross motion which was for summary judgment on the issue of liability insofar as asserted against the defendant Sky Express, Inc., is denied.

On September 1, 2006, a 15–passenger van driven by the defendant Jin–Liang Liu, which was en route from New York to North Carolina, spun out of control, hit a guardrail, and flipped over on Interstate Route 95 in Virginia, causing the death of at least one passenger and injuries to other passengers. The plaintiffs, including a passenger injured as a result of the accident and the representatives of the estate of another passenger who died as a result of his injuries, commenced this action to recover damages for, inter alia, personal injuries and wrongful death. After discovery, the plaintiffs cross-moved, inter alia, for summary judgment on the issue of liability against the defendant Sky Express, Inc. (hereinafter Sky Express). The plaintiffs contended that Sky Express was liable on the grounds that, at the time of the accident, it was both Jin–Liang Liu's employer and the lessee of the van. The Supreme Court granted that branch of the plaintiffs' cross motion, and Sky Express appeals. We reverse the order insofar as appealed from.

Pursuant to Vehicle and Traffic Law § 388, subject to certain...