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SKETCHES OF COURT: Jury finds cab driver liable in car accident trial

August 23, 2017 By Alba Acevedo Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Court sketch by Alba Acevedo
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In this courtroom sketch, Hon. Larry Martin listens as Jesse Minc (standing), of the law offices of Rosenberg, Minc, Falkoff & Wolff, addresses the jury during opening statements in the motor vehicle accident trial Kabir v. Yousuf in Kings County Civil Term. At issue was the determination of liability. 

Mohammed Kabir claims that he was seriously injured as a front-seat passenger in a livery cab headed eastbound on So. Conduit Avenue in August 2014, when his vehicle struck another car in a rear-end impact. The co-defendants in the lawsuit are the cab driver and the vehicle that was rear-ended. 

Peter Withey (at right), of the law firm James G. Bilello & Associates, represented co-defendant Richard Norfleet, the driver of the vehicle at the head of the collision. Norfleet had encountered several mattresses strewn across the roadway, and maintained that he spotted the mattresses only a few seconds before his vehicle was struck. He testified that it was not his intention to drive over them, but he did not employ his hazard lights.  

The livery driver was represented by Richard Sands (seated, center), who alleged that his client was driving appropriately but had little time to react to the unfolding situation that resulted in the collision. The cabbie and his passenger testified that they had not seen the mattresses before the impact.  

The jury found that the co-defendants were negligent, but only faulted the livery driver’s negligence as a substantial factor in causing the accident, attributing the cabbie with 100 percent of the liability.  

The damages phase will take place in the fall pending post-trial motions. Court reporter Donna Manning recorded the proceedings. 

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