Justice Timothy Dufficy
Defendant MTA Long Island Rail Road moved for dismissal of plaintiff’s personal injury complaint. De Los Santos sued to recover damages for injuries allegedly sustained after he became drunk and attempted suicide by laying down on the railroad tracks in the path of a commuter train. Defendants argued the train operator exercised reasonable care to avoid striking plaintiff. The court found defendants met their burden of establishing the train operator could not have avoided the accident based on her testimony that she immediately put the train “into emergency” after seeing plaintiff, but could not stop the train in time to avoid the accident. It found no merit to plaintiff’s allegation that defendant’s motion was premature as certain non-parties were not yet deposed, stating the speculation that evidence sufficient to defeat a summary judgment motion may be uncovered during discovery was insufficient to deny the motion. The court stated while it was “extremely sympathetic” to plaintiff, evidence showed he disregarded the obvious danger posed by the train, placing himself in the position of extreme peril. Also, it ruled plaintiff’s reckless conduct constituted a superceding cause of the accident, absolving defendant of liability, granting defendant’s motion.
