RODRIGUEZ v. “John Doe,” etc., Defendant. (2019)

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Lisa A. Sokoloff, J.), entered on or about September 11, 2018, which denied the motion of defendants New York City Transit Authority and Manhattan & Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority for summary judgment dismissing the complaint as against them, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, and the motion granted.  The Clerk is directed to enter judgment accordingly.

It is well settled that a defendant is not liable where he or she is faced with a sudden and unforeseen occurrence that was not of his or her own making and presents sufficient evidence to support the reasonableness of his or her actions (see Rivera v. New York City Tr. Auth., 77 N.Y.2d 322, 327, 567 N.Y.S.2d 629, 569 N.E.2d 432 [1991];  Ward v. Cox, 38 A.D.3d 313, 831 N.Y.S.2d 406 [1st Dept. 2007] ).  Here, defendants established their entitlement to judgment as a matter of law in this action where plaintiff was injured when the bus on which she was a standing passenger came to a sudden stop, causing her to fall.  The video evidence showed that the accident occurred because a bicyclist suddenly appeared in the parking lane adjacent to defendants' bus, and seconds later fell into the bus's driving lane.  At that time, the bus was traveling 17 miles per hour, and within a second of the bicyclist's fall, the bus driver merged to the left lane and applied the brakes.  About five seconds later, the bus driver made a complete stop, and the bicyclist remained on the ground, next to the bus.  It was apparent from the surveillance footage that if the bus driver had not reacted in the manner in which he did, the bus would have struck the bicyclist (see Jones v. New York City Tr. Auth., 162 A.D.3d 476, 78 N.Y.S.3d 347 [1st Dept. 2018];  Orsos v. Hudson Tr. Corp., 111 A.D.3d 561, 975 N.Y.S.2d 655 [1st Dept. 2013] ).

Plaintiff's contention that more discovery is required is unsupported by anything suggesting that additional discovery will lead to further relevant evidence (see CPLR 3212[f];  Ehrenhalt v. Kinder, 85 A.D.3d 553, 924 N.Y.S.2d 792 [1st Dept. 2011] ).