In Pappas v. New York City Transit Authority, 174 N.Y.S.3d 728 (2^nd Dept 2022), the court granted summary judgment to the defendants who submitted surveillance footage in support of their argument that plaintiff's claim was barred by the emergency doctrine. In recent cases involving the defense of the emergency doctrine, courts have relied on video surveillance in deciding motions for summary judgment. The improvement in camera and video quality and prevalence of cameras in society have made this a growing trend that will continue and benefit litigants.

The Emergency Doctrine

The emergency doctrine is set forth in The New York Pattern Jury Instruction 2:14 and provides as follows: