Gorelik v Laidlaw Tr., Inc.
2008 NY Slip Op 03171 [50 AD3d 739]
April 8, 2008
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, June 18, 2008


Bella Gorelik, Appellant, et al., Plaintiff,
v
LaidlawTransit, Inc., et al., Respondents.

[*1]Wittenstein & Associates, P.C., Brooklyn, N.Y. (Harlan Wittenstein of counsel), forappellant.

Molod Spitz & DeSantis, P.C., New York, N.Y. (Marcy Sonneborn and Alice Spitz ofcounsel), for respondents.

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the plaintiff Bella Gorelik appeals, aslimited by her brief, from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Kramer, J.),dated January 10, 2007, as denied her motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability.

Ordered that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs, and themotion of the plaintiff Bella Gorelik for summary judgment on the issue of liability is granted.

The plaintiff Bella Gorelik (hereinafter the plaintiff) allegedly sustained injuries when the carshe was operating collided at an intersection with a bus owned by the defendant Laidlaw Transit,Inc., and operated by the defendant Sabella Brown. The traffic proceeding in Brown's directionwas controlled by a stop sign at the intersection, while traffic proceeding in the plaintiff'sdirection was not controlled by any traffic device. Brown testified at her deposition that beforeproceeding into the intersection she saw the plaintiff's car approaching the intersection.

The plaintiff established her prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law bypresenting uncontroverted evidence that Brown proceeded into the intersection without yieldingthe right of way in violation of Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1142 (a) (see Mizrahi v Lam, 40 AD3d 594[2007]; Morgan v Hachmann, 9AD3d 400 [2004]; Maxwell v Land-Saunders, 233 AD2d 303 [1996]).[*2]

In opposition, the defendants failed to raise any triableissue of fact with respect to the plaintiff's alleged comparative negligence (see Ishak v Guzman, 12 AD3d 409[2004]; Lupowitz v Fogarty, 295 AD2d 576 [2002]; Maxwell v Land-Saunders,233 AD2d 303 [1996]). Accordingly, the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment on theissue of liability should have been granted. Skelos, J.P., Angiolillo, Leventhal and Belen, JJ.,concur.


NYPTI Decisions © 2026 is a project of New York Prosecutors Training Institute (NYPTI) made possible by leveraging the work we've done providing online research and tools to prosecutors.

NYPTI would like to thank New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York State Senate's Open Legislation Project, New York State Unified Court System, New York State Law Reporting Bureau and Free Law Project for their invaluable assistance making this project possible.

Install the free RECAP extensions to help contribute to this archive. See https://free.law/recap/ for more information.