94 A.D.3d 1044
N.Y. App. Div.
2012

JUAN FERNANDEZ-VELEZ et al., Respondents, v KRISTEN JOY O’HARA et al., Appellants.

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

2011

942 N.Y.S.2d 805

[Prior Case History: 2011 NY Slip Op 32795(U).]

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., the defendants appeal, as limited by their brief, from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Farneti, J.), dated October 4, 2011, as denied their motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint on the ground that the plaintiff Juan Fernandez-Velez did not sustain a serious injury within the meaning of Insurance Law § 5102 (d) as a result of the subject accident.

Ordered that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs, and the defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint is granted.

The defendants met their prima facie burden of showing that the plaintiff Juan Fernandez-Velez (hereinafter the injured plaintiff) did not sustain a serious injury within the meaning of Insurance Law § 5102 (d) as a result of the subject accident (see Toure v Avis Rent A Car Sys., 98 NY2d 345 [2002]; Gaddy v Eyler, 79 NY2d 955, 956-957 [1992]). The defendants submitted evidence establishing, prima facie, that the alleged injuries to the cervical and thoracolumbar regions of the injured plaintiff’s spine did not constitute serious injuries within the meaning of Insurance Law § 5102 (d) (see Rodriguez v Huerfano, 46 AD3d 794, 795 [2007]).

In opposition, the plaintiffs failed to raise a triable issue of fact. Accordingly, the Supreme Court should have granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. Skelos, J.P., Dickerson, Hall, Roman and Cohen, JJ., concur.