Selemba v. Puliga

• Decision Date: 07 July 2020
• Docket Number: Index No. EF000642-2020
• Parties: LISA M. SELEMBA, Plaintiff, v. GABRIELLA DELDRICE PULIGA and STEPHEN C. PULIGA, Defendants.
• Court: New York Supreme Court

2020 NY Slip Op 35334(U)

LISA M. SELEMBA, Plaintiff,
v.
GABRIELLA DELDRICE PULIGA and STEPHEN C. PULIGA, Defendants.

Index No. EF000642-2020

Supreme Court, Orange County

July 7, 2020

Unpublished Opinion

Motion Date: June 26, 2020.

Present: HON. CATHERINE M. BARTLETT, A.J.S.C.

HON. CATHERINE M. BARTLETT, A.J.S.C.

To commence the statutory time period for appeals as of right (CPLR5513[a]), you are advised to serve a copy of this order, with notice of entry, upon all parties.

The following papers numbered 1 to 8 were read on Plaintiffs motion for partial summary judgment on liability:

Notice of Motion - Affirmation / Exhibits - Affidavit ..............................1-3

Affirmation in Opposition / Exhibits - Affidavits (2) / Exhibits....................... 4-6

Reply Affirmation (Exhibits) - Reply Affidavit / Exhibits............................ 7-8

Upon the foregoing papers it is ORDERED that the motion is disposed of as follows:

A. Factual Background

This is a personal injury action arising out of a motor vehicle accident that occurred on the morning of June 4,2019 on Bailey Road in the Town of Wawayanda, New York.

Plaintiff Lisa Selemba's affidavit states:

3. ...I was traveling westbound on Bailey Road at an approximate rate of speed of 15 to 20 miles per hour. I had been traveling on Bailey Road for roughly ten seconds. Then without warning, I was suddenly and violently struck on the right

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passenger side of my vehicle as I passed the driveway at 65 Bailey Road. My vehicle was struck with such force, it was caused to spin nearly 360 degrees counterclockwise. My vehicle finally came to rest facing the vehicle that struck me, whose front end was partially in the roadway and the rear tires were still in the driveway. [cit.om.J The driveway was located to my right-hand-side while traveling westbound on Bailey Road. I never saw the other defendants' vehicle coming until after the impact...

Defendant Stephen Puliga resides at 65 Bailey Road, and is the owner of the vehicle operated by defendant Gabriella Puliga, his daughter, that struck Plaintiffs vehicle. The Puligas aver that there is a telephone pole to the left of the driveway which obscures one's vision of oncoming traffic on Bailey Road. Defendant Gabriella Puliga's affidavit states:

5. ...I pulled the Honda automobile slightly past the end of our driveway, approximately 3 to 4 feet, in order to have an unobstructed view down Bailey Road to my left. As I did so, I looked left, then to the right, and then to the left again. This took approximately 3½ seconds. When I looked left or the second time, I saw a flash of something out of the comer of my eye to my left, and then the impact occurred. My speed at the moment of impact was negligible. Only after the accident was over did I realize that the flash I saw out of the corner of my eye must have been Selemba's car. The impact occurred almost at the exact moment when my car had pulled forward enough to have clear visibility looking down Bailey Road to my left.

7. Although I did not observe the exact path of travel of the plaintiffs vehicle after the impact occurred and she passed me, I do know that she ended up with her car facing back in my direction, within what should have been its own lane of travel before the accident, such that it must have made approximately a 1 SO degree spin, not a 360 degree spin as she describes in her affidavit.

10. Immediately after the accident was over, I observed Ms. Selemba get out of her car. She began screaming at me, making statements such as "What did you do?" and "No one is ever driving on this road." She was dressed in what appeared to be her pajamas. She said something to the effect that she was just returning after dropping her son off at his place of work and was rushing home.

Photographs of the vehicles involved in the accident demonstrate that the front left side of the bumper on Defendants' vehicle impacted the front and rear passenger side doors on

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Plaintiffs vehicle. The force of the impact ripped off the Defendants' bumper, but there was no...