Chowdhury v Matos

Chowdhury v Matos 2014 NY Slip Op 04148 Decided on June 10, 2014 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided on June 10, 2014
Tom, J.P., Friedman, Renwick, Gische, Clark, JJ.
12731 300377/11

[*1] Khalada Chowdhury, Plaintiff, Arime U. Mohammed, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v

Clemente Matos Jr., et al., Defendants-Respondents.

Richard T. Lau & Associates, Jericho (Joseph G. Gallo of counsel), for appellant.

Law Offices of Frank J. Laurino, Bethpage (Calvin Weintraub of counsel), for respondents.

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Julia I. Rodriguez, J.), entered June 28, 2013, which, to the extent appealed from, denied the motion of plaintiff Arime U. Mohammed for summary judgment dismissing the counterclaim against him, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, and the motion granted.

Dismissal of the counterclaim asserted against Mohammed is warranted in this action where Mohammed, while driving his vehicle in which plaintiff Chowdhury was a passenger, was stopped at a red light when his vehicle was struck from behind by a vehicle driven by defendant Collazo and owned by defendant Matos (see Cabrera v Rodriguez, 72 AD3d 553 [1st Dept 2010]; Francisco v Schoepfer, 30 AD3d 275 [1st Dept 2006]). Contrary to defendants' contention that Mohammed's alleged abrupt stop raises an issue of comparative negligence, "an assertion that the lead vehicle stopped suddenly' is generally insufficient to rebut the presumption of negligence on the part of the offending vehicle" (Francisco at 276). Furthermore, even crediting the testimony of defendant Collazo that Mohammed abruptly [*2]stopped in the middle of the intersection and not for a red light, defendants have failed to proffer a nonnegligent explanation for the rear-end collision (see Malone v Morillo, 6 AD3d 324 [1st Dept 2004]).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER

OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.

ENTERED: JUNE 10, 2014

CLERK