Two recent amendments to the Commercial Division Rules, designed to encourage alternative dispute resolution, will go into effect on January 1, 2018.
The amendment to Rule 10 requires counsel to certify that they have discussed with their clients the availability of alternative dispute resolution options in their case. Specifically, counsel will be required to submit
Personal jurisdiction analysis is often the enemy of 1L’s tackling that doozy of a CivPro exam. Outside of that 10-page fact pattern requiring consideration of Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, SA v. Hall, International Shoe Co. v. Washington, and World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, this is normally a seamless endeavor for commercial litigators.
Can a claim for equitable or common-law indemnification co-exist with a claim for express or contractual indemnification?
In Live Invest, Inc. v. Morgan Justice Emerson says “no”, when the claim seeks to recover for the defendant’s wrongdoing (e.g., breach of contract) as opposed to simply trying to hold a defendant liable based on
If you live in the Western Hemisphere, then you already know that New York courts may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nondomiciliary who transacts business in New York if the plaintiff’s claim arises from the transaction of such business. But what does it mean to transact business in New York? Much ink has been spilled
CPLR 3211(a)(1) allows a defendant to seek dismissal of a complaint when the defense is “founded upon documentary evidence.” “Documentary evidence”, however, is not defined by the CPLR – leaving many practitioners in the dark as to what qualifies as a sufficient “document” under this paragraph. Indeed, in a recent blog, we highlighted a
Statutorily imposed deadlines are not optional for commercial litigants; this much should be obvious. Notwithstanding, and despite numerous technological calendaring options available to commercial litigators, deadlines are blown in the Commercial Division, including the mother of all deadlines: the defendant’s time to answer or otherwise move against a complaint (see CPLR 3012). As
In an action brought against a title company for losses in connection with a property sale, Justice Elizabeth H. Emerson, in JBGR LLC v. Chicago Title Ins. Co., denied the title insurer’s motion to amend its answer to add defenses, but also denied plaintiffs’ motion for a protective order concerning a withheld memorandum prepared
If you have ever looked at a contract’s New York choice-of-law provision or a status conference stipulation and thought to yourself, “Who wrote this darned thing?” then now is your chance to weigh in. The Commercial Division Advisory Council has recommended two new forms—a model choice-of-law provision and a model status conference stipulation and order
ay a stranger to an arbitration agreement compel arbitration against its signatories? According to the Second Department in Degraw Construction Group v McGowan Builders, Inc., 2017 NY Slip Op 05580 (2nd Dept July 12, 2017), the answer is “sometimes”: a plaintiff cannot avoid arbitration with a company by substituting the company’s employees as
The doctrine of equitable recoupment, which is codified in CPLR 203(d) permits a defendant to assert an otherwise untimely defense or counterclaim. The Appellate Division, First Department recently applied the doctrine in California Capital Equity, LLC v. IJKG, LLC, and highlighted a few caveats that a litigator should bear in mind when relying upon