Cheul Soo Kang v Violante
2009 NY Slip Op 02558 [60 AD3d 991]
March 31, 2009
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, May 6, 2009


Cheul Soo Kang, Appellant,
v
Isaiah Violante et al.,Respondents.

[*1]Kim & Cha, LLP, Flushing, N.Y. (Michael D. Robb of counsel), for appellant.

Robert P. Tusa (Sweetbaum & Sweetbaum, Lake Success, N.Y. [Marshall D. Sweetbaum],of counsel), for respondents.

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the plaintiff appeals from a judgmentof the Supreme Court, Kings County (Schneier, J.), dated October 31, 2007, which, upon a juryverdict on the issue of liability, is in favor of the defendants and against him dismissing thecomplaint.

Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law, on the facts, and in the exercise ofdiscretion, the complaint is reinstated, and a new trial is granted, with costs to abide the event.

The trial court erred in admitting a police accident report into evidence. The report did notqualify for admission pursuant to CPLR 4518 (c) because it was not certified, and no foundationtestimony establishing its authenticity and accuracy was offered (see DeLisa v Pettinato,189 AD2d 988 [1993]; Matter of Peerless Ins. Co. v Milloul, 140 AD2d 346 [1988]).Furthermore, the statements in the report attributed to the plaintiff and defendant driverconstituted inadmissable hearsay (see Carr v Burnwell Gas of Newark, Inc., 23 AD3d998, 1000 [2005]; Hatton v Gassler, 219 AD2d 697 [1995]). The error cannot beconsidered harmless.

The plaintiff's remaining contention is unpreserved for appellate review. Spolzino, J.P.,Florio, Miller and Eng, 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.