BRAGINO v. LLC (2025)

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Veronica G. Hummel, J.), entered on or about March 13, 2023, which granted the motion of defendants Coachman Luxury Transport, Inc. and Bus Around Town Corp. (together, the Coachman defendants) for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and all cross-claims as against them, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff seeks to recover for injuries he sustained while he was a passenger on a bus owned by defendant Hop In Bus Service, LLC and driven by defendant Taurean Kelly.  Plaintiff, a schoolteacher, had retained Coachman Luxury Transport on behalf of his employer to transport a group of students and accompanying adults on a school trip.

In a related action commenced on behalf of another passenger who was injured on the same bus, this Court affirmed an order granting the Coachman defendants' motion for summary judgment on the ground that they could not be held vicariously liable for any negligence by Hop In, an independent contractor, and Kelly (Morand v. Coachman Luxury Transp., Inc., 228 A.D.3d 463, 213 N.Y.S.3d 296 [1st Dept. 2024]).  Hop In and Kelly, who are also defendants in the Morand action, are collaterally estopped from relitigating that issue in this case (see Buechel v. Bain, 97 N.Y.2d 295, 303–306, 740 N.Y.S.2d 252, 766 N.E.2d 914 [2001], cert denied 535 U.S. 1096, 122 S.Ct. 2293, 152 L.Ed.2d 1051 [2002]).  Furthermore, although plaintiff may not be in privity with the Morand plaintiffs for purposes of collateral estoppel (see Green v. Santa Fe Indus., Inc., 70 N.Y.2d 244, 253, 519 N.Y.S.2d 793, 514 N.E.2d 105 [1987]), the Morand case has stare decisis effect in this case, which is based on the same facts and legal theories, and plaintiff has provided no compelling justification for us to overrule our recent precedent (see Matter of State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Fitzgerald, 25 N.Y.3d 799, 819–820, 16 N.Y.S.3d 796, 38 N.E.3d 325 [2015]).