In Guadagno v. Glen Oaks Club (Index
No. 704798/15), Queens County Supreme Court Justice Livote denied defendant's
motion for summary judgment against a plaintiff injured by a golf cart.
Particularly, at the time of the incident, the plaintiff was a passenger
in a golf cart operated by an employee of defendant, and it is undisputed that
the driver was operating the vehicle at a high speed, thereby causing the
vehicle to flip over and cause plaintiff injuries. At some time after
plaintiff commenced a lawsuit, the defendants moved for summary judgment
(seeking to dismiss the case), arguing, among other things, that the golf cart
was not a "motor vehicle" within the meaning of the New York Vehicle
and Traffic Law.
The trial court denied defendant's motion, holding, among other things, the following: "Vehicle and Traffic Law
Section 125 defines a motor vehicle, in pertinent part, as '[e]very vehicle
operated or driven upon a public highway which is propelled by any power other
than muscular power'...the sole fact that [the driver] was operating
defendant's golf cart on the Glen Oaks Club premises indicates the golf cart may
have been operated in a public way or place. Given this undisputed fact,
the absence of evidence that the golf cart was not on a 'public highway,' and the golf
cart's undisputed qualification as a motor vehicle in all other respects,
defendant has not met its burden to establish that the golf cart was not a
motor vehicle under VTL Sections 125 and 388."
Salvatore R. Marino, Esq.
