Inzalaco v. Consalvo

• Decision Date: 19 March 2014
• Citation: 2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 01718,982 N.Y.S.2d 165,115 A.D.3d 807
• Parties: Mary Jane INZALACO, respondent, v. Julio CONSALVO, Jr., et al., appellants (and a related action).
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

115 A.D.3d 807

982 N.Y.S.2d 165

2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 01718

Mary Jane INZALACO, respondent,

v. Julio CONSALVO, Jr., et al., appellants(and a related action).

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

March 19, 2014.

Karen L. Lawrence, Tarrytown, N.Y. (David Holmes of counsel), for appellants Karen M. Margolis and Ethan Margolis.

Cherny & Podolsky, PLLC, Forest Hills, N.Y. (Aleksander S. Cherny of counsel), for respondent.

REINALDO E. RIVERA, J.P., PLUMMER E. LOTT, SHERI S. ROMAN, and SYLVIA O. HINDS–RADIX, JJ.

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the defendants Karen M. Margolis and Ethan Margolis appeal, as limited by their brief, from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Putnam County (Lubell, J.), dated June 22, 2012, as denied their motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against them on the ground that the plaintiff did not sustain a serious injury within the meaning of Insurance Law § 5102(d) as a result of the subject accident, and the defendant Julio Consalvo, Jr., separately appeals from the same order.

ORDERED that the appeal by the defendant Julio Consalvo, Jr., is dismissed, without costs or disbursements, for failure to perfect the same in accordance with the rules of this Court ( see22 NYCRR 670.8[c], [e] ); and it is further,

ORDERED that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from by the defendants Karen M. Margolis and Ethan Margolis, on the law, and the motion of those defendants for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against them is granted; and it is further, ORDERED that one bill of costs is awarded to the defendants Karen M. Margolis and Ethan Margolis, payable by the plaintiff.

The plaintiff claims that she injured her right knee in a December 2007 motor vehicle accident. In that accident, the vehicle in which the plaintiff was a passenger was struck by a vehicle owned and operated by the defendant Julio Consalvo, Jr., and Consalvo's vehicle was struck by a vehicle owned by the defendant Karen M. Margolis and operated by the defendant Ethan Margolis (hereinafter together the Margolis defendants).

The Supreme Court erred in denying the Margolis defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against them on the ground that the plaintiff did not sustain a serious injury within the meaning of Insurance Law § 5102(d) as a result of the subject accident ( see Toure v. Avis Rent A Car Sys., 98 N.Y.2d 345, 746 N.Y.S.2d 865, 774 N.E.2d 1197;Gaddy v. Eyler, 79 N.Y.2d 955, 582 N.Y.S.2d 990, 591 N.E.2d 1176). The Margolis defendants submitted evidence, including an affirmed report from an orthopedic surgeon and the plaintiff's medical records, showing that the plaintiff suffered from a pre-existing degenerative condition in her right knee, and that total...