Williams v Dia

Holding The court affirmed summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff regarding liability against the defendant driver, finding him negligent as a matter of law, but reinstated the complaint against the other driver because the first driver’s negligence did not preclude comparative fault by the second. The court also held that the plaintiff raised a triable issue of fact on causation through her expert’s opinion.

The court’s words

did not perform a "comparative determination of the degree or qualitative nature of an injury based on the normal function, purpose and use of the body part"

2026 NY Slip Op 06232, at the official text

opined that her claimed injuries resulted not from the motor vehicle collision, but rather from preexisting chronic or degenerative conditions

2026 NY Slip Op 06232, at the official text

attributing her injuries the collision rather than to a degenerative condition

2026 NY Slip Op 06232, at the official text

There is no dispute that plaintiff was a passenger in one of the vehicles involved in the collision and could not have been at fault under any version of the events underlying the collision

2026 NY Slip Op 06232, at the official text

Under either version of events, Dia was negligent as a matter of law

2026 NY Slip Op 06232, at the official text

This finding, however, has no bearing on the extent to which Gerena may have been comparatively at fault for the happening of the collision

2026 NY Slip Op 06232, at the official text