Lowes v. Anas

• Decision Date: 17 June 2021
• Docket Number: 968,CA 20-00431
• Citation: 150 N.Y.S.3d 462,195 A.D.3d 1579
• Parties: James C. LOWES, Individually, and as Administrator of the Estate of Susan R. Lowes, Deceased, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Alexandros ANAS and Tina Colaizzo-Anas, Defendants-Appellants. (Appeal No. 1.)
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

195 A.D.3d 1579

150 N.Y.S.3d 462

James C. LOWES, Individually, and as Administrator of the Estate of Susan R. Lowes, Deceased, Plaintiff-Respondent,

v.Alexandros ANAS and Tina Colaizzo-Anas, Defendants-Appellants. (Appeal No. 1.)

968

CA 20-00431

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

Entered: June 17, 2021

GIBSON, MCASKILL & CROSBY, LLP, BUFFALO (ROCHELLE LAWLESS OF COUNSEL), FOR DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS.

BURDEN, HAFNER & HANSEN, LLC, BUFFALO (SARAH E. HANSEN OF COUNSEL), FOR PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT.

PRESENT: SMITH, J.P., CARNI, TROUTMAN, BANNISTER, AND DEJOSEPH, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

It is hereby ORDERED that the order so appealed from is affirmed without costs.

Memorandum: Plaintiff, individually and as the administrator of the estate of Susan R. Lowes (decedent), commenced this personal injury and wrongful death action, arising from an incident in which decedent was struck and knocked down, then run over, by a vehicle operated by Tina Colaizzo-Anas (defendant) and owned by Alexandros Anas (collectively, defendants), as decedent walked across Maple Road at an intersection in the Town of Amherst. In appeal No. 1, defendants appeal from an order granting plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of liability. In appeal No. 2, defendants appeal from a subsequent order insofar as it denied that part of their motion seeking leave to renew their opposition to plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment. We affirm in each appeal.

With respect to appeal No. 1, we reject defendants’ initial contention that further discovery was necessary and that Supreme Court thus should have denied plaintiff's motion as premature. "[A] party opposing summary judgment on the ground that additional discovery is needed must ‘demonstrate that discovery might lead to relevant evidence or that the facts essential to justify opposition to the motion were exclusively within the knowledge and control of the movant’ " ( Bratge v. Simons , 173 A.D.3d 1623, 1624, 102 N.Y.S.3d 818 [4th Dept. 2019] ; see CPLR 3212 [f] ; Feldmeier v. Feldmeier Equip., Inc. , 164 A.D.3d 1093, 1097, 84 N.Y.S.3d 609 [4th Dept. 2018] ; see generally Resetarits Constr. Corp. v. Elizabeth Pierce Olmsted, M.D. Center for the Visually Impaired [Appeal No. 2], 118 A.D.3d 1454, 1456, 988 N.Y.S.2d 797 [4th Dept. 2014] ). The motion will not be denied based on "mere speculation or conjecture" that discovery would assist in raising a triable issue of fact ( Weiss v. Zellar Homes, Ltd. , 169 A.D.3d 1491, 1493, 92 N.Y.S.3d 833 [4th Dept. 2019] ; see Resetarits Constr. Corp. , 118 A.D.3d at 1456, 988 N.Y.S.2d 797 ). Here, we conclude that defendants presented no more than the " ‘mere hope’ that further [discovery] would disclose evidence" essential to oppose the motion ( Boyle v. Caledonia-Mumford Cent. Sch. , 140 A.D.3d 1619, 1621, 34 N.Y.S.3d 548 [4th Dept. 2016], lv denied 28 N.Y.3d 905, 2016 WL 6209065 [2016] ; see Bratge , 173 A.D.3d at 1624, 102 N.Y.S.3d 818 ), and thus they failed to demonstrate that the motion should have been denied on that basis.

We reject the further contention of defendants in appeal No. 1 that the court erred in applying the doctrine of collateral estoppel in granting plaintiff's motion. Before plaintiff commenced this action, a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) fatality hearing (DMV hearing) was held before an administrative law judge (ALJ). Defendant appeared at the DMV hearing with counsel, who cross-examined all of the testifying witnesses, but defendant did not testify and a negative inference was drawn against her (see 15 NYCRR 127.5 [b]). At the conclusion of the DMV hearing, the ALJ determined that defendant violated Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1146 (a), which requires drivers to " ‘exercise due care to avoid colliding with any ... pedestrian,’ " and directed the DMV to suspend her license.

"Collateral estoppel applies when (1) the issues in both proceedings are identical, (2) the issue in the prior proceeding was actually litigated and decided, (3) there was a full and fair opportunity to litigate in the prior proceeding, and (4) the issue previously litigated was necessary to support a valid and final judgment on the merits ... Collateral estoppel is equally applicable to confer conclusive effect to the quasi-judicial determination of an administrative agency ... While the proponent of collateral estoppel has the burden of demonstrating that the issue in question is identical and decisive, it is the opponent's burden to show the absence of a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue in the prior determination" ( Alamo v. McDaniel , 44 A.D.3d 149, 153-154, 841 N.Y.S.2d 477 [1st Dept. 2007] ). Under the circumstances presented, plaintiff was required to establish that the issue whether defendant was negligent, i.e., whether she violated a driver's well-settled "duty to see what should be seen and to exercise reasonable care under the circumstances to avoid an accident" ( Byrne v. Calogero , 96 A.D.3d 704, 705, 945 N.Y.S.2d 737 [2d Dept. 2012] ; see Deering v. Deering , 134 A.D.3d 1497, 1499, 21 N.Y.S.3d 801 [4th Dept. 2015] ), was identical to the issue at the DMV hearing, i.e., whether defendant violated Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1146 (a) by failing to "exercise due care to avoid" the collision (id. ). We agree with plaintiff that he met that burden (see generally Jeffreys v. Griffin , 1 N.Y.3d 34, 41, 769 N.Y.S.2d 184, 801 N.E.2d 404 [2003] ; Parker v. Blauvelt Volunteer Fire Co. , 93 N.Y.2d 343, 350, 690 N.Y.S.2d 478, 712 N.E.2d 647 [1999] ). Plaintiff also established that defendant litigated that issue, that the ALJ determined that defendant violated the statute, and that the ALJ's conclusion was necessary to his final determination at the DMV hearing (see Alamo , 44 A.D.3d at 154, 841 N.Y.S.2d 477 ). In opposition, defendants failed to show the absence of a full and fair opportunity to litigate this issue. Defendant was represented at the DMV hearing by counsel, who thoroughly cross-examined all of the witnesses. The ALJ took testimony from several eye witnesses and from a Town of Amherst Police Investigator who responded to and investigated the accident. Defense counsel was also given the opportunity to call witnesses and was permitted to submit a written closing statement. Defense counsel "never noted any objections on the record as to any failure to receive ... a full and fair opportunity to ask any questions" or otherwise participate in the DMV hearing ( id. ). Consequently, we conclude that defendants are collaterally estopped from relitigating the issue of whether defendant violated Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1146 (a) (see Alamo , 44 A.D.3d at 154, 841 N.Y.S.2d 477 ; cf. Curtin v. Curtin , 244 A.D.2d 927, 927-928, 665 N.Y.S.2d 241 [4th Dept. 1997] ).

We similarly reject defendants’ related contention in appeal No. 1 that the court erred in determining that defendant was negligent as a matter of law. "[A] defendant's unexcused violation of the Vehicle and Traffic Law constitutes negligence per se" ( Koziol v. Wright , 26 A.D.3d 793, 794, 809 N.Y.S.2d 350 [4th Dept. 2006] [internal quotation marks omitted]), and here, plaintiff met his initial burden on the motion by submitting evidence of an unexcused statutory violation. Contrary to defendants’ contention, the evidence they submitted in opposition to the motion failed to raise a triable issue of fact with respect to defendant's negligence (see Kowalyk v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , 187 A.D.3d 1539, 1540, 132 N.Y.S.3d 205 [4th Dept. 2020] ; Amerman v. Reeves , 148 A.D.3d 1632, 1633, 50 N.Y.S.3d 717 [4th Dept. 2017] ). We note in particular that defendant did not submit an affidavit setting forth her version of how the accident occurred (see Cavitch v. Mateo , 58 A.D.3d 592, 593, 871 N.Y.S.2d 372 [2d Dept. 2009] ), nor did defendants submit any other admissible evidence that would provide a nonnegligent explanation for the impact (see Kimyagarov v. Nixon Taxi Corp. , 45 A.D.3d 736, 737, 846 N.Y.S.2d 309 [2d Dept. 2007] ).

We reject defendants’ final contention in appeal No. 1 that the court erred insofar as it concluded that plaintiff met his initial burden on the motion of establishing that defendant's negligence was a proximate cause of decedent's injuries. In support of his motion, plaintiff submitted evidence, including the ALJ's finding discussed above, witness statements, and a police accident report that included the summary and conclusions of the accident reconstruction. That evidence established that defendant initially struck decedent with the middle of the front of defendants’ SUV as decedent crossed the street at a green light—albeit not in a marked crosswalk, as the dissent notes—then ran over decedent with the vehicle's front and back wheels before stopping a short distance further down the road.

Based on that evidence, plaintiff sought partial summary judgment on the issue of liability.

We respectfully disagree with the dissent that the evidence submitted by plaintiff failed to establish proximate causation. The only facts that defendants cite for the proposition that plaintiff failed to meet his burden arise from decedent's actions, i.e., crossing outside a marked crosswalk and wearing dark clothing as daylight faded. The Court of Appeals has made clear, however, "that a plaintiff's comparative negligence is no longer a complete defense and its absence need not be pleaded and proved by the plaintiff, but rather is only relevant to the mitigation of plaintiff's damages" ( Rodriguez v. City of New York , 31 N.Y.3d 312, 321, 76 N.Y.S.3d 898, 101 N.E.3d 366 [2018] ). Thus, "to obtain partial summary judgment on defendant's liability[, a plaintiff] does not have to demonstrate the absence of his [or her] own comparative fault" ( id. at 323, 76 N.Y.S.3d 898, 101 N.E.3d 366 ; see Dunn v. Covanta Niagara I, LLC [appeal No. 1], 181 A.D.3d 1340, 1340, 121 N.Y.S.3d 496 [4th Dept. 2020] ).

In accordance with Rodriguez , plaintiff was...