For the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur to apply, a plaintiff must establish three conditions: the event must be of a kind that ordinarily does not occur in the absence of someone's negligence; it must be caused by an agency or instrumentality within the exclusive control of the defendant; and it must not have been due to any voluntary action or contribution on the part of the plaintiff. If the plaintiff satisfies the burden of proof on these three elements, the fact-finder may infer negligence. The exclusive control element is not a rigid rule and it may be applied in circumstances when the accident occurred after the instrumentality left the defendant's control, if it is shown that the defendant had exclusive control at the time of the alleged act of negligence. The plaintiff does not have to eliminate all other causes, but, rather, must show that their likelihood is reduced so that the defendants' conduct is more probably the cause. The plaintiff must show that the defendant's control was sufficiently exclusive to fairly rule out some other agency causing the purported defect.
Bicchetti v. Atlantic Toyota, NY Slip Op 03219 (2d Dep't June 14, 2023)
