Plaintiff's submissions were sufficient to establish the existence of a question of fact as to whether he sustained a serious injury, as defined in Insurance Law § 5102(d), which was causally related to the car accident of December 6, 1999. The August 15, 2001 report of Dr. Lubliner asserted that the December 6 accident caused an exacerbation of a previous condition of plaintiff's right knee, pointing to the differences in the pre-accident operative report of November 26, 1999 — reporting a normal patella and no defect in articular surface — and the post-accident operative report of April 28, 2000 — reporting that the articular surface of plaintiff's patella had a grade III defect which required an arthroplasty of the patella. Dr. Lubliner stated that in his opinion the accident of December 6, 1999 was the cause of the grade III articular changes to the patella, of the need for surgery on April 28, 2000 and of the permanent weakness, atrophy and loss of durability related to the patella.
Additionally, the report of Dr. Krinick regarding his examination of plaintiff on April 3, 2000, which report he adopted as true and accurate in his November 5, 2002 affirmation, indicated that while the flexion-extension of plaintiff's left knee was normal at 0 to 150 degrees, the flexion-extension of plaintiff's right knee was 0 to 100 degrees. This test result also serves to substantiate plaintiff's claim of serious injury ( see Toure v. Avis Rent A Car Systems, 98 N.Y.2d 345, 350; Gonzalez v. Vasquez, 301 A.D.2d 438, 439; Ramos v. Dekhtyar, 301 A.D.2d 428, 429).
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.