| Vera v Islam |
| 2010 NY Slip Op 01434 [70 AD3d 525] |
| February 18, 2010 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| Eric R. Vera, Respondent, v Mohammed Islam et al.,Appellants. |
—[*1] Bamundo, Zwal & Schermerhorn, LLP, New York (Ben Bartolotta of counsel), forrespondent.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Dominic R. Massaro, J.), entered July 31, 2009,which denied defendants' motions for summary judgment dismissing the complaint on theground that plaintiff did not sustain a serious injury as defined by Insurance Law § 5102(d), unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Assuming that defendants established their prima facie entitlement to summary judgment byshowing that plaintiff did not suffer a serious injury (see e.g. Rossi v Alhassan, 48 AD3d 270 [2008]), plaintiff met hisburden in opposition by submitting affirmed MRI reports of a radiologist and an affirmed reportof his treating physician, which raised issues of fact as to whether he suffered serious injuriescaused by the accident. The MRI reports provide objective evidence of disc herniations andbulges in the cervical and lumbar spine, and the physician asserted that he performed objectivetests quantifying decreased ranges of motion in the cervical and lumbar spine, both shortly afterthe accident and three years later, and that the injuries and resulting limitations were caused bythe accident (see Colon v Bernabe,65 AD3d 969, 970 [2009]; Hernandez v Rodriguez, 63 AD3d 520 [2009]).
The conclusions of defendant's radiologist that the observed disc changes in plaintiff, whowas 30 years old at the time of the accident, were normal or unrelated to the accident were [*2]sufficiently rebutted by the plaintiff's radiologist (see Frias v James, 69 AD3d 466[1st Dept 2010]; June v Akhtar, 62AD3d 427, 428 [2009]). Concur—Friedman, J.P., Sweeny, Nardelli and Freedman, JJ.