BARTON v. YOUMANS

It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from be and the same hereby is unanimously affirmed with costs.

Memorandum: Plaintiffs commenced this action seeking damages for injuries sustained by Thomas Barton (plaintiff) when the vehicle that he was driving was rear-ended by a vehicle driven by defendant. Supreme Court properly granted plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment on negligence. Plaintiffs established their entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by submitting evidence that defendant's vehicle rear-ended plaintiff's stopped vehicle, and defendant failed to meet his burden of establishing a nonnegligent explanation for the collision sufficient to overcome the inference of negligence ( see Ruzycki v. Baker, 301 AD2d 48, 49). Although evidence of an abrupt stop can be sufficient to raise an issue of fact ( see Tripp v. GELCO Corp., 260 AD2d 925, 926), here plaintiff had to stop abruptly to yield to an emergency vehicle ( see Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1144 [a]; DiPaola v. Scherpich, 239 AD2d 459, 460).