PRINCESS v. Diversified Automotive, Inc. and Northtown Hyundai, Inc., Defendants-Respondents. (2007)

Plaintiff commenced this action to recover damages for injuries she sustained in a motor vehicle collision.   At the time of the accident, the vehicle in which plaintiff was a passenger was traveling eastbound on Sheridan Drive in the Town of Amherst, and the three eastbound lanes were blocked by a car carrier owned by defendant Diversified Automotive, Inc. (Diversified) and driven by a Diversified employee.   The car carrier had been backed out of the driveway of defendant Northtown Hyundai, Inc. (Northtown) with the assistance of a Northtown employee.   Plaintiff was injured when the vehicle in which she was a passenger was rear-ended by a vehicle driven by defendant Dale R. Pohl.   Supreme Court properly granted the motion of Diversified for summary judgment dismissing the complaint against it and the cross motion of Northtown for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and any cross claims against it.   The evidence establishes that the vehicle in which plaintiff was a passenger was able to stop without striking the car carrier and that the injuries sustained by plaintiff resulted from the rear-end collision with the vehicle driven by Pohl.  “Under the circumstances, any alleged negligence on the part of [Diversified and Northtown] was not a proximate cause of plaintiff's injuries” (Robinson v. Day, 265 A.D.2d 916, 918, 695 N.Y.S.2d 825;  see Coffey v. Baker, 34 A.D.3d 1306, 1307-1308, 824 N.Y.S.2d 511, lv. dismissed in part and denied in part 8 N.Y.3d 867, 831 N.Y.S.2d 767, 863 N.E.2d 1020;  Rzepecki v. Yauch, 277 A.D.2d 984, 715 N.Y.S.2d 822).

It is hereby ORDERED that the order so appealed from be and the same hereby is unanimously affirmed without costs.

MEMORANDUM: