Category Archives: Motor Vehicle Law

Was Traffic Stop, Search & Seizure Legal:

Posted on December 20, 2021 | Comments Off on Was Traffic Stop, Search & Seizure Legal:

This was originally posted on the SGR Blog.

Court of Appeals Disagrees (4-3)

Our Courts regularly hold evidentiary hearings to determine whether evidence seized by the police without a warrant should be suppressed. A recent case reached our State’s highest Court after the Supreme Court denied a motion to suppress drugs found during a traffic stop– and the Appellate Division agreed. Four Judges of the Court of Appeals affirmed in a brief opinion. But three Judges dissented in a far more detailed recitation of the facts followed by an even more comprehensive legal rebuttal.

Reginald Blandford appealed the denial of his motion to suppress marijuana found during a traffic stop of his vehicle. In the course of a stop predicated on the observation of traffic violations—the legality of which (according to the majority decision) Blandford did not contest before the Court of Appeals.

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Posted in Evidence, Litigation, Motor Vehicle Law, New York Law

Two Cars Collide on Montauk Hwy In Copaigue

Posted on October 28, 2021 | Comments Off on Two Cars Collide on Montauk Hwy In Copaigue

This was originally posted on the SGR Blog.

Who Was At Fault Where Both Violated the Law?

A large part of our tort liability jurisprudence addresses the threshold question of “fault”. But, as a recent automobile collision case illustrates, the “fickle finger of fault” may point in both directions.

Two cars collided in the westbound right lane of Montauk Highway in Copaigue, New York. Just prior to the accident, Diana Lopez was exiting a parking lot with her vehicle half on the apron and half in the right lane in order to cross over Montauk Highway and make a left turn. Christopher Ceravino was traveling westbound on Montauk Highway in the left lane at 30 miles per hour when, from 150-200 feet away, he first noticed Lopez’s vehicle between the apron of the parking lot and the right lane of Montauk Highway. Ceravino did not stop his vehicle, but, instead, moved into the right lane and ultimately struck the Lopez vehicle. The jury found that Lopez was negligent and that her negligence was a proximate cause of the accident and that Ceravino was not negligent. The County Court granted Lopez’s motion to set aside the verdict as against the weight of the evidence. Ceravino appealed.

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Posted in Litigation, Litigation, Motor Vehicle Law, New York Law, Personal Injury

“Wrong Way” Biker Hits “Jay-Walker” on E. 55th: NY Law and NYC Reg Collide Btw. Lex. and Third

Posted on September 28, 2020 | Comments Off on “Wrong Way” Biker Hits “Jay-Walker” on E. 55th: NY Law and NYC Reg Collide Btw. Lex. and Third

This originally appeared on the SGR Blog.

A deliveryman drives his  bicycle against traffic on a one way street.  A pedestrian crosses in the middle of the block. The biker hits the jay- walker. Litigation ensues. Both violated the law.  Who is at fault?

Antoinette Montague was struck by an employee  of T&W Restaurant, Inc. while he was making deliveries on a bicycle. The employee was riding the bike against the one-way direction of travel on East 55th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues– a violation of the Vehicle and Traffic Law.

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Posted in Litigation, Motor Vehicle Law, New York Law, Personal Injury

Loss of a New York City Parking Space Is Not A Laughing Matter: Ask Alec Baldwin

Posted on January 20, 2020 | Comments Off on Loss of a New York City Parking Space Is Not A Laughing Matter: Ask Alec Baldwin

This was originally published on the SGR blog.

Saturday Night Live comedian Alec Baldwin engaged in a shoving match with Wojciech Cieszkowski over a mid-town New York parking space. The result was not a laughing matter. Baldwin was criminally charged and pled guilty to harassment in the second degree.

But that was only the beginning. Cieszkowski sued Baldwin for assault, battery, legal fees and slander per se. In addressing a motion to dismiss the slander claim, the Court took a jurisprudential “deep dive” into the law of defamation, slander ( in general) and slander per se (in particular).

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Posted in Litigation, Litigation, Motor Vehicle Law, New York Law, Personal Injury

MOTORCYCLE-INVOLVED ACCIDENTS RAISE COMPLICATED ISSUES AS TO LIABILITY, CAUSATION AND ALLOCATION OF FAULT

Posted on April 29, 2019 | Comments Off on MOTORCYCLE-INVOLVED ACCIDENTS RAISE COMPLICATED ISSUES AS TO LIABILITY, CAUSATION AND ALLOCATION OF FAULT

I cannot recall why and when I first started collecting the articles about motorcycle accidents; however, over time, I realized that lawsuits arising from such claims are very common (in retrospect, for obvious reasons, the inherent danger and risk of riding a motorcycle).  The causes raise a broad panoply of issues including proximate cause, helmet design and manufacture; and road and intersection signage and speed limits.  A few recent examples follow:

Caro v. Chesnick, 2017 NY Slip Op 07940 (1st Dept., November 14, 2017)

Supreme Court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.

The First Department briefly described the facts:

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Posted in Litigation, Motor Vehicle Law, New York Law, Personal Injury

STRAP ON THAT HELMET BEFORE GETTING ON YOUR BICYCLE

Posted on August 1, 2018 | Comments Off on STRAP ON THAT HELMET BEFORE GETTING ON YOUR BICYCLE

As we enter the last month of summer, bike riding is on many of our “to do” lists.

Accidents and incidents involving bicycle riding are a fertile source of often complicated and protracted litigation – raising a broad panoply of issues relating, among many others, to the duty of care; violation of the Vehicle and Traffic law; the right of way; and the obligation to maintain public highways, streets and roads.  Several recent examples follow:

Gami v. Cornell Univ., 2018 NY Slip Op 04812 (App. Div 3rd Dept. June 28, 2018) Continue reading →

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Posted in Motor Vehicle Law, New York Law

Parking Ticket “Nitpicking”

Posted on December 1, 2014 | Comments Off on Parking Ticket “Nitpicking”

Even as a “seasoned” (NYU Law ‘69) commercial litigator, I am often surprised by the finite  issues that are subject both to a trial court disposition and, also, to  a subsequent appellate adjudication. A recent decision by the Appellate Division, involving parking violations, falls into that category of (to me) unusually demarcated legal proceedings.  Matter of Nestle Waters North America, Inc. v. City of New York, 2014 NY Slip Op 05609 (1st Dept. July 31, 2014).

Nestle Waters was a “hybrid class action for Article 78 relief, declaratory judgment, injunctive relief and remission of fines unlawfully imposed seeking to, inter alia, annul the determination of respondent Appeals Board of Parking Violations Bureau of the City of New York (The Board).” Continue reading →

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Posted in Litigation, Motor Vehicle Law, New York Law

V&TL

Posted on June 4, 2013 | Comments Off on V&TL

When is an object in motion not in motion?  The Section 1225-2.c “conundrum” and other VTL issues

Section 1225-c.2.(a) of the New York Vehicle and Traffic Law, that took effect in late 2001, simply  and clearly states that: 

“Except as otherwise provided in this section, no person shall operate a motor vehicle upon a public highway while using a mobile telephone to engage in a call  while such vehicle is in motion.”

                         Like so many other statutes and areas of the law, the facial simplicity and clarity of the V&TL provision has nevertheless triggered  a “tsunami” of litigation that has dissected, analyzed and examined almost every word and phrase of the statute. Continue reading →

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Posted in Litigation, Motor Vehicle Law