The intent of New York Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 1104 was originally to protect operators of emergency vehicles from being subject to an ordinary negligence standard for personal injury suits arising out of emergency responses on the road. Instead of ordinary negligence, the statute required plaintiffs to prove the emergency responder’s “reckless disregard” under VTL 1104(e) as a prerequisite to liability. The emergency responder was given extra protection when answering an emergency call, as an expedient response is usually necessary in an emergency situation, and some traffic rules are often broken in the course of such a response.
However, the Court of Appeals’ 4-3 perplexing decision by Justice Susan Phillips Read in Kabir v. County of Monroe undermined the intent of VTL 1104 and created uncertainty and illogical results in the future of emergency vehicle litigation as evidenced in the subsequent cases of Tatishev, LoGrasso and Katanov.1
‘Kabir’
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