Majority
In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Harkavy, J.), dated June 7, 2006, which granted the motion of the defendants Kenny Basnight and MV Transportation, Inc., for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against them on the ground that the plaintiff did not sustain a serious injury within the meaning of Insurance Law § 5102 (d).
Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.
The respondents established their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by demonstrating that the plaintiff did not sustain a serious injury within the meaning of Insurance Law § 5102 (d) as a result of the subject motor vehicle accident (s ee Toure v Avis Rent A Car Sys., 98 NY2d 345 [2002]; Gaddy v Eyler, 79 NY2d 955 [1992]; Kearse v New York City Tr. Auth., 16 AD3d 45 , 49-50 [2005]). This burden was established by the submission of the report of the respondents’ examining orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Lawrence Miller, who found, inter alia, that the plaintiff had a normal range of motion of her cervical and lumbar spine and that she had no disability causally related to the subject accident (see Kearse v New York City Tr. Auth., 16 AD3d at 49-50 ). In opposition, the plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact.
The magnetic resonance imaging reports of the plaintiff’s cervical spine which showed herniated and bulging discs did not, alone, raise a triable issue of fact as to whether she sustained a serious injury (see Yakubov v CG Trans Corp., 30 AD3d 509 , 510 [2006]; Cerisier v Thibiu, 29 AD3d 507 , 508 [2006]; Kearse v New York City Tr. Auth., 16 AD3d at 49 ). The mere existence of a bulging or herniated disc is not evidence of a serious injury in the absence of objective evidence of the extent of the alleged physical limitations resulting from the disc injury and its duration (see Yakubov v CG Trans Corp., 30 AD3d at 510 ; Kearse v New York City Tr. Auth., 16 AD3d at 49 ). Further, the plaintiffs treating orthopedist, Dr. Fred Montas, failed to address the findings in the report of the respondents’ radiolo-
Cases cited
- Toure v. Avis Rent A Car Systems, Inc. 98 NY2d 345 p. 666
- Kearse v. New York City Transit Authority 16 AD3d 45 at 49-50 p. 666
- Yakubov v. CG Trans Corp. 30 AD3d 509 at 510 p. 666
- Cerisier v. Thibiu 29 AD3d 507 at 508 p. 666
- Passaretti v. Ping Kwok Yung 39 AD3d 517 p. 667
- Khan v. Finchler 33 AD3d 966 at 967 p. 667
- Giraldo v. Mandanici 24 AD3d 419 at 420 p. 667
- Waring v. Guirguis 39 AD3d 741 at 742 p. 667
- Li v. Woo Sung Yun 27 AD3d 624 at 625 p. 667
- Neugebauer v. Gill 19 AD3d 567 at 568 p. 667