Francis v. New York City Transit Authority

—Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Sheila Abdus-Salaam, J.), entered on or about June 19, 1996, which granted plaintiffs motion to set aside the verdict and directed a new trial, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Defendants’ bus driver’s awareness of the presence of the car ahead for at least 15 seconds and for over a block and a half precludes a finding that the action of the car in stopping was so sudden and unexpected as to warrant an emergency doctrine charge (see, Rivera v New York City Tr. Auth., 77 NY2d 322, 327). In view of the trial court’s prior correct decision rejecting…