In Rodriguez v. City of New York, 2018 WL 1595658 (N.Y. 2018), the Court of Appeals addressed an issue that had long divided the Appellate Departments: Does a personal injury plaintiff need to show freedom from comparative fault in order to obtain summary judgment on the issue of the defendant’s liability? The court held that a “plaintiff does not bear that burden.” Id. at *1. In doing so, it displaced what had previously been the majority approach to that question among the lower courts. This column discusses the state of the law before Rodriguez, the rationale for the decision, and how the rule it announced will function in practice.
State of the Law Before ‘Rodriguez’
Before Rodriguez, the Appellate Division departments had largely, but not exclusively, found that a plaintiff moving for summary judgment bore the prima facie burden of demonstrating freedom from comparative fault. See, e.g., Roman v. A1 Limousine, 76 A.D.3d 552 (2d Dept. 2010); Maniscalco v. New York City Tr. Auth., 95 A.D.3d 510, 514 (1st Dept. 2012); Piscitello v. Fortress Trucking, 118 A.D.3d 1441, 1442 (4th Dept. 2014); Rigney v. Ichabod Crane Cent. School Dist., 59 A.D.3d 842, 843 (3d Dept. 2009). Indeed, in Rodriguez itself, the First Department had followed that approach, in a 3-2 decision. See Rodriguez, 142 A.D.3d 778 (1st Dept. 2016). As a practical matter, this meant that summary judgment was an all-or-nothing proposition for a plaintiff. If he could show that the defendant was wholly responsible for the accident, he would be granted summary judgment, leaving only the valuation of his injuries for trial. But if he could not make such a showing, his motion would be denied in its entirety, and the trial would involve all issues, including the defendant’s liability.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
