In motor vehicle cases, the emergency doctrine continues to evolve. In 2011, in Lifson v. City of Syracuse,1 the Court of Appeals found that a driver who hit and killed a pedestrian while being distracted by “sun glare” could not invoke the emergency doctrine. Lifson provides clarification for the circumstances in which the emergency doctrine can be invoked.
Development of Doctrine
The emergency doctrine holds that when an actor is faced with a sudden and unexpected circumstance not of his or her own making, which leaves little or no time for thought, deliberation, or consideration, or causes the actor to be reasonably so disturbed that the actor must make a speedy decision without weighing alternative courses of conduct, the actor may not be held negligent if the actions taken are reasonable and prudent in context.2 The doctrine recognizes that, faced with an emergency, even a reasonable person might choose a course of action which, in hindsight, proves to have been mistaken. As such, an actor’s conduct must be reasonable under the circumstances.3
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