Fonseca v. Manhattan & Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority

In Fonseca v. Manhattan & Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (14 AD3d 397 [1st Dept 2005]), the plaintiff, an 81-year-old man, was injured when the bus he had just boarded "stopped hard," causing him and other passengers to fall. The First Department found that the plaintiff's testimony did not merely characterize the bus's stop as sudden or violent: "It also provided objective evidence of the force of the stop sufficient to establish an inference that the stop was extraordinary and violent . . . different . . . than the jerks and jolts commonly experienced in city bus travel and, therefore, attributable to the negligence of defendant." Hence it raised questions of fact that should be determined in the light of surrounding circumstances, such as whether defendants were negligent in the operation of the bus and whether such negligence caused plaintiff's injuries. (Id. at 398.)