By: Alyson L. Knipe, Esq. and Stephen J. Alexander, Esq.
The New York Supreme Court, Bronx County granted summary judgment in favor of a chartered bus company, finding that the defendant bus company met its duty of care to an alighting passenger in O’Sullivan v. American Golf Corp. d/b/a/ Pelham Bay & Split Rock Golf Course and Omega Express, LTD. (Hon. Patsy Gouldbourne, J.S.C., January 2, 2025).
Plaintiff alleged that he sustained injuries on July 16, 2018, for tripping and falling on a cobblestone driveway at a golf course when he was alighting from Defendant’s charter bus. A common carrier’s duty of care to an alighting passenger is to “stop at a place where the passenger may safely disembark and leave the area” and “towards that end to exercise reasonable and commensurate care in view of the dangers to be apprehended.” (Blye v. Manhattan & Bronx Surface Tr. Operating Auth., 124 A.D.2d 106, 109, 511 N.Y.S.2d 612 (1st Dep’t 1987)). Once a safe alighting point is provided, the bus operator’s duty is complete.
Whether the defendant breached its duty to provide a passenger with a safe place to alight from the bus depends on whether the bus operator could or could not have observed the dangerous condition from the operator’s vantage point (see Lovato v. New York City Tr. Auth., 50 A.D.3d 969, 971, 855 N.Y.S.2d 685 (2d Dep’t 2008)).
In the case at bar, the bus driver, who had never been to the subject premises, was given no instructions or directions as to where to park the bus when he arrived at the golf course. There were also no signs designating parking, and the driver stopped the bus in the most logical place – in the parking lot adjacent to the front entrance door to the golf club. The parking lot surface was cobble stone.
Once the bus stopped, the driver got off the bus, stood next to the bus doors as eight passengers alighted from the bus in single-file without incident. He then opened the luggage compartment for removal of the golf clubs from underneath the bus. The bus driver did not observe any missing stones.
The Court found that the bus company established a prima facie entitlement to summary judgment, as the bus driver stopped the bus in a parking lot adjacent to the front entrance to the golf clubhouse. Additionally, the Court found that the parking lot surface was cobblestone, that there were no signs or cones indicating that patrons should alight in another designated area, and there were other passenger cars stopped in the area. The Court further held that there was no foreseeable harm in the area where the bus was stopped and that there was no evidence that the bus driver was aware of or reasonably should have been aware of any dangers to be apprehended.
The court concluded that the Plaintiff failed to define the duty of care that was owed and the actionable breach of that duty.
Takeaway: NY civil defense practitioners should be aware that common carriers owe specific duties to alighting passengers, and prevailing on a Motion for Summary Judgment requires an uncontroverted showing that the common carrier fulfilled all specific duties.
