Under New York’s Vehicle and Traffic Law, an ambulance, and its driver, can avoid liability for a car accident that occurs when its responding to an emergency call.

In Castro-Verdugo v. City of New York, plaintiff a passenger in a car was injured when it collided with a Fire Department of New York ambulance. The plaintiff sued the ambulance driver and City of New York. The defendants moved for summary judgment, on the basis that the ambulance was responding to an emergency radio dispatch call. In denying the motion, the court found a triable issue of fact existed as to whether defendants were responding to an emergency radio call since the accident report indicated the accident occurred at 5:05 pm and the radio dispatch call was not sent until 5:06 pm.

The takeaway from this case is ambulances are not immune from liability; unless they can substantiate they were responding to an emergency call. Timing can be everything.

Thanks to Caroline Freilich for her contribution to this post.