| Sullivan v Goksan |
| 2008 NY Slip Op 02197 [49 AD3d 344] |
| March 13, 2008 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| Kimberley Sullivan, Appellant, v Ercan Murat Goksan etal., Respondents, et al., Defendant. |
—[*1] Jones Hirsch Connors & Bull, P.C., New York City (Richard M. Sands of counsel), forrespondents.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Mark Friedlander, J.), entered on or about August23, 2006, upon a jury verdict in defendants-respondents' favor, unanimously affirmed, withoutcosts.
The jury's verdict in favor of respondents was based upon a fair interpretation of the evidence(see McDermott v Coffee Beanery,Ltd., 9 AD3d 195, 206 [2004]), in this action where plaintiff, a passenger in a vehicledriven by defendant Lazarus, was injured when a van, owned by respondent Airborne and drivenby respondent Goskan, collided into the rear of Lazarus's vehicle, which was stopped at a redlight. Respondents maintained that the collision occurred as a result of the unexpected presenceof an oily condition on the street, and Goskan testified as to the nonnegligent operation of hisvehicle, including the rate of speed at braking, the distance he maintained from plaintiff's vehicle,the lighting conditions that evening, and the presence of the subject oily puddle. Such testimonywas corroborated by respondents' engineering and accident reconstruction expert, as well as thepolice officer who responded to the accident. The evidence of Goskan's negligence came fromplaintiff's engineering and accident reconstruction expert, whose opinion contradicted Goskan'stestimony, and the jury's decision to credit the testimony of Goskan and the defense expert overthat of plaintiff's expert is entitled to deference (see Chepel v Meyers, 306 AD2d 235[2003]).
Based on the foregoing, plaintiff's argument that the trial court improperly denied her motionfor a directed verdict on the issue of liability fails, and in any event, the motion was premature asit was made prior to the presentation of respondents' case (see CPLR 4401; Cass vBroome County Coop. Ins. Co., 94 AD2d 822 [1983]).
We have considered plaintiff's remaining contentions and find them unavailing.Concur—Lippman, P.J., Andrias, Williams and McGuire, JJ.