NO THROWING THIS BABY OUT ….
An infant allegedly suffered injuries to her head and brain when she was hit by a vehicle back in March of 2014. When a personal-injury case was brought against them, the defendants moved for summary judgment -- pretrial relief in their favor -- claiming that the child didn’t suffer a “serious injury,” as defined by the state’s Insurance Law. After the Kings County Supreme Court denied that request, an appeal followed.
While the full definition appears below, a “serious injury” under the law is specifically defined. And included in its ambit are. among other things, “dismemberment,” “fracture,” and, “permanent loss of use of a body organ .…”
Even though the defendants presented “medical evidence” that the injuries to the child’s head and brain didn’t result from the accident, the Appellate Division, Second Department, thought that child’s legal team competently rebutted that showing and that a “triable issue of fact” as to the cause had been raised, thus warranting the denial of the underlying motion.
There was no toying with that baby ….
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DECISION
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Definition:
"Serious injury" means a personal injury which results in death; dismemberment; significant disfigurement; a fracture; loss of a fetus; permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system; permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member; significant limitation of use of a body function or system; or a medically determined injury or impairment of a non-permanent nature which prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts which constitute such person's usual and customary daily activities for not less than ninety days during the one hundred eighty days immediately following the occurrence of the injury or impairment.