The Court of Appeals’ decision in Kabir v. County of Monroe1 drastically undercuts the protection afforded to emergency responders under New York Vehicle and Traffic Law (VTL) §1104. In Kabir, the court held that the “reckless disregard” liability standard for drivers of emergency vehicles only applied when the driver was engaged in one of the four enumerated categories of privileged conduct. The Kabir dissent accurately predicted that the illogical standard established in Kabir would lead to concerning decisions. In response, the appellate courts have avoided being limited by the Kabir standards and have interpreted the statutory language of 1104(b)(4) to entitle a responding vehicle that is turning during an emergency situation to a reckless disregard standard. This has greatly broadened the stringent Kabir criteria in an attempt to fashion a realistic and workable model.
According to Kabir, emergency responders are entitled to the protections afforded by VTL §1104(e)’s reckless disregard standard only when the responder is: (1) stopping, standing or parking; (2) proceeding past a red light, stop sign or flashing red signal; (3) exceeding the posted speed limit; or (4) disregarding regulations governing direction of movement or turning in specified directions. For all other actions, the emergency responder is only held to an ordinary negligence standard.
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