NYS Inspection Station owed no duty to injured truck driver
Monday, November 3rd, 2008
Neidhart v. K.T. Brake Co et. al. Appellate Division, Second Department 2008 Slip Op 08304
The question presented in this case was whether a NYS Inspection Station would be liable to an injured truck driver after his vehicle’s kingpin device attaching the tractor to the trailer snapped causing the vehicle to leave the roadway and strike a tree. The inspection station allegedly failed to discover the kingpin device was cracked and rusted.
Initially the finding of liability depends on whether the tortfeasor owed a duty of care to the plaintiff, or injured party. The Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court recently decided that a NYS inspection station did not owe a duty of care to a third party who was injured as a result of an allegedly negligent inspection. (Striver v. Good & Fair Carting & Moving, Inc. 9 NY3d 253) Following the Court of Appeals the Second Department decided that to hold an inspection station liable would turn those stations into insurers and raise the station’s insurance premiums and inevitably the cost of an inspection. The defendants motions for summary judgment on liability were granted when the court reasoned that the inspection station owed the plaintiff no duty as a matter of law.