Turturro v. City of New York

Anthony Turturro was attempting to cross Gerritsen Avenue in Brooklyn on his bicycle when he was struck by a vehicle driven by Louis Pascarella. A police investigation determined that Pascarella was traveling at a speed of at least fifty-four miles per hour before the collision. Plaintiffs bought this negligence action against, inter alia, the City of New York and Pascarella. The jury returned a verdict finding that Anthony, Pascarella, and the City were negligent. The jury apportioned ten percent of the liability to Anthony, fifty percent to Pascarella, and forty percent to the City. The City moved to set aside the verdict, arguing that it was entitled to qualified immunity and that it was acting in a governmental capacity when it failed to conduct an adequate study of whether traffic calming measures should be implemented after it received numerous complaints of speeding on Gerritsen Avenue. Supreme Court denied the City’s motion. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding (1) the City was acting in a proprietary capacity regarding the safety of Gerritsen Avenue; and (2) there was a rational process by which the jury could have concluded that the City’s negligence was a proximate cause of the accident and that the doctrine of qualified immunity did not apply. View "Turturro v. City of New York" on Justia Law