Wadhwa v. Long Island Rail Road

• Decision Date: 27 December 2004
• Docket Number: 2004-04376.
• Citation: Wadhwa v. Long Island Rail Road, 13 AD3d 615, 788 N.Y.S.2d 148, 2004 NY Slip Op 9624 (N.Y. App. Div. 2004)
• Parties: AMARGEET WADHWA et al., Appellants, v. LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD, Respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

13 A.D.3d 615

788 N.Y.S.2d 148

2004 NY Slip Op 09624

AMARGEET WADHWA et al., Appellants, v. LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD, Respondent.

2004-04376.

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Second Department.

December 27, 2004.

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., the plaintiffs appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Kelly, J.), dated April 26, 2004, which granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.

Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.

The plaintiff Amargeet Wadhwa was seriously injured when, after standing next to a signal case adjacent to the railroad tracks as one of the defendant's trains was slowly passing her on its way out of the Port Jefferson station, she walked to the tracks, squatted down near the middle of the passing train, and "disappeared" under it.

The Supreme Court properly granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. The defendant demonstrated its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by establishing that its personnel exercised reasonable care and that the accident was unavoidable under the circumstances (see Guller v Consolidated Rail Corp., 242 AD2d 283 [1997]; Alba v Long Is. R.R., 204 AD2d 143 [1994]). The conclusory expert affidavits submitted by the plaintiffs in opposition to the motion failed to raise a triable issue of fact regarding whether the defendant's engineer should have anticipated that the injured plaintiff would...