Sheehan v. City Of New York

354 N.E.2d 832 (1976)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Timothy Sheehan (P) was a bus driver Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MABSTOA). He stopped his bus at a stop but did not pull over to the curb. While so stopped, the bus was struck from the rear by a sanitation truck operated by Anthony Loria (D) and owned by respondent the City of New York (D). Sheehan (P) and Walter Novak, Jr., (P) a passenger in the bus, were injured. It was undisputed that Sheehan's (P) brake lights had signaled his intended stop and that it had been a slow and gradual one. Loria (D) had noticed the brake lights when he was still 150 feet behind the bus. Loria (D) did not deny that he knew where the bus had stopped or that he had sufficient opportunity to stop his truck safely but testified that when he attempted to do so his brakes did not hold. Sheehan (P) testified he could not pull completely into the designed curb bus stop because cars were parked there at the time. Loria (D) remembered no such obstructing vehicles. Ps sued Ds and the actions were tried together before a jury. One brought by Sheehan (P) against the City (D) and Loria (D), the other by Novak (P) against the owners and operators of both vehicles. The jury brought in a verdict in the amount of $50,000 against both drivers and owners in Novak's (P) case, apportioning the negligence between them. It decided against Sheehan (P) in his suit against the City (D) and Loria (D). The court aside the Novak (P) verdict insofar as it held MABSTOA and Sheehan (P) liable and directed that the entire amount of the damages it awarded be assessed against the City (D) and Loria (D) alone. It also set aside the verdict in the Sheehan (P) case, in which it ordered a new trial. The Appellate Division, by a vote of three to two, reversed a judgment and an order entered on those decisions and reinstated the verdicts.