Opinion
August 3, 1998
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Doyle, J.).
Ordered that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with one bill of costs, those branches of the motions are granted, and the complaint is dismissed insofar as asserted on behalf of Francine R. Stowe.
In opposition to the defendants' respective motions, in which they made a prima facie showing of entitlement to summary judgment on the ground that the plaintiff Francine R. Stowe did not sustain a serious injury within the meaning of Insurance Law § 5102 (d) as a result of an accident on October 17, 1991, Stowe submitted, inter alia, a physician's affirmation and report dated December 17, 1996, which stated that she suffered from recurrent cervical and lumbosacral spine sprain and radiculitis with specified degrees of restriction of motion. The report, dated over five years after the accident, was insufficient to raise a question of fact that Stowe suffered a serious injury because the report failed to indicate any objective basis upon which the physician determined the stated degrees of limitation of motion allegedly suffered, and it was clearly tailored to meet the statutory requirements ( see, Lopez v. Senatore, 65 N.Y.2d 1017; Konkowski v. Hoare, 240 A.D.2d 638; Lincoln v. Johnson, 225 A.D.2d 593). The report does not provide any information concerning the nature of Stowe's medical treatment or any explanation for the four-year gap between Stowe's therapy through March 1992 and her subsequent visit to the examining physician in 1996 ( see, Medina v. Zalmen Reis Assocs., 239 A.D.2d 394; Morales v. Luna, 205 A.D.2d 673; Marshall v. Albano, 182 A.D.2d 614). Furthermore, there was no competent proof that Stowe suffered from her claimed present injuries prior to her involvement in a subsequent automobile accident in May 1994, and therefore, she failed to demonstrate that the 1991 accident was the proximate cause of her claimed injuries ( see, Khodadadian v. Wolff 242 A.D.2d 681; Cacaccio v. Martin, 235 A.D.2d 384; Waaland v. Weiss, 228 A.D.2d 435).
Mangano, P. J., Miller, Pizzuto and Krausman, JJ., concur.