A Westchester County Police Officer seriously injured his left shoulder, which necessitated surgery, when he was struck by a private motorist while he was responding to a disabled vehicle on the northbound side of Hutchinson River Parkway. The Officer approached the disabled vehicle with his emergency overhead lights as well as his front grill lights. The Officer stopped his vehicle behind the disabled motorist. The Officer positioned his car in the right lane. Approximately five seconds after the Officer opened his driver’s side door, the defendant motorist failed to yield to an emergency vehicle and struck the Officer’s door causing the Officer to sustain injuries. The defendant claimed the Officer opened his door into traffic and was unable to avoid the collision. The insurance company for the defendant filed a motion in Westchester County Supreme Court asking that the Officer’s claim for personal injuries be dismissed because the Officer caused his own accident by opening his door into traffic and that there was no genuine issue of fact to be decided. DCD vehemently opposed the application and was able to convince a Justice of the Supreme Court to deny the defendant’s motion thereby allowing the case to proceed to trial.

At the eve of trial, DCD was able to obtain an offer of $275,000, from a maximum policy of $300,000, to settle the case.