VILLANUEVA v. MAGEN COMPANY INC (2023)

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (David B. Cohen, J.), entered on or about June 29, 2022, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, granted defendants’ motion to compel plaintiff to provide unrestricted HIPAA-compliant authorizations for medical and employment records relating to plaintiff's May 1, 2019 incident, as well as his 2012 workplace accident and his 2016 motor vehicle accident, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Defendants demonstrated their entitlement to unrestricted authorizations for plaintiff's medical and employment records regarding plaintiff's July 2012 workplace accident, resulting in injury to both knees, his 2016 motor vehicle accident, resulting in injury to both knees and his lumbar spine, and the 2019 construction accident underlying this action, resulting in alleged injuries to his lumbar spine (see Kennedy v. Ware, 201 A.D.3d 589, 589–590, 157 N.Y.S.3d 718 [1st Dept. 2022]).

While plaintiff did not expressly allege in his bill of particulars that his knees were injured in the 2019 construction accident, he alleged that he suffered “a permanent instability to walk normally and/or work” and “pain and difficulty with prolonged sitting, walking, climbing stairs, lifting and carrying heavy objects, performing strenuous activities, finding a comfortable position and sleeping.”  These alleged injuries may relate to plaintiff's knees as well as his lumbar spine (see Brito v. Gomez, 33 N.Y.3d 1126, 1127, 107 N.Y.S.3d 797, 131 N.E.3d 904 [2019];  Wilson v. Simpson W. Realty, LLC, 179 A.D.3d 417, 418, 113 N.Y.S.3d 533 [1st Dept. 2020]).  Medical records pertaining to plaintiff's 2012 and 2016 accidents are therefore relevant in determining whether his injuries are attributable to those incidents rather than to the 2019 accident (see Abrew v. Triple C Props., 178 A.D.3d 526, 527, 111 N.Y.S.3d 843 [1st Dept. 2019];  Caplow v. Otis El. Co., 176 A.D.2d 199, 200, 574 N.Y.S.2d 321 [1st Dept. 1991]).  Further, plaintiff's longstanding degenerative arthritic condition in both knees, as well as his pre-existing spondylolysis of the lumbar spine, warrants authorizations unrestricted by date (see Shamicka R. v. City of New York, 117 A.D.3d 574, 574–575, 985 N.Y.S.2d 569 [1st Dept. 2014]).