In Pappas v. New York City Transit Authority, 174 N.Y.S.3d 728 (2nd 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:

“A person faced with an emergency and who acts without opportunity to consider the alternatives is not negligent if [they act] as a reasonably prudent person would act in the same emergency, even if it later appears that [they] did not make the safest choice or exercise the best judgment. A mistake in judgment or wrong choice of action is not negligence if the person is required to act quickly because of danger. This rule applies where a person is faced with a sudden condition, which could not have been reasonably anticipated, provided that the person did not cause or contribute to the emergency by [their] own negligence.”

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