In Cerio v. Carrington, 2018 NY Slip Op 03597 (App. Div. 1st Dept. May 17, 2018), a car accident case, the court unanimously affirmed the lower court’s grant of summary judgment to defendant City of New York.
From the decision:
Plaintiff was injured when defendant Carrington, an intoxicated driver, attempted to make an illegal u-turn and collided with a taxicab. Carrington’s vehicle then careened onto the sidewalk and struck plaintiff.
The City established its prima facie burden of demonstrating that the intersection where the accident occurred was reasonably safe, and that it did not have any prior complaints about motorists making illegal u-turns. The City was not required to continually reevaluate the signs at the intersection absent proof that it had become unsafe (see Chunhye Kang-Kim v City of New York, 29 AD3d 57, 59 [1st Dept 2006]).
In opposition, plaintiff failed to raise an issue of fact. Given the absence of any history of similar accidents at the subject location, plaintiff’s expert’s conclusory opinion that a “no u-turn” sign should have been installed lacked probative value.