For those civil practitioners who don’t regularly practice in the Commercial Division – beware. The Unified Court System’s Advisory Committee on Civil Practice (the “Committee”) has proposed that nine (9) Commercial Division Rules be broadly adopted by other, non-commercial civil courts. These nine rules all have one common goal: to promote efficiency in New York
Perhaps it’s because I’ll be speaking on the topic later this week, or perhaps it’s because of a recent post on another one of our blogs, but shareholder rights of inspection have been on the mind of late.
While researching 2018 New York cases addressing inspection rights, particularly in the Commercial Division, I came across
Although we generally report on recent Commercial Division decisions, and sometimes commercial cases coming out of the Appellate Divisions, this time we go all the way to the top: the Court of Appeals. Not often do we see commercial cases with a procedural twist coming out of our High Court (of NY). However, last week,
A general release: the end of a litigation or relinquishment of a right? Every attorney and litigant often breathes a sigh of relief when a litigation comes to a conclusion. But is that always the case? Not when the release covers more than may have been intended.
In a recent decision by Commercial Division Justice
It has been almost one year since the New York legislature amended CPLR 503(a) to provide for venue in “the county in which a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred.” Yet a recent decision by Commercial Division Justice Andrea Masley shows that some practitioners have either forgotten about
Generally speaking, most people want to avoid becoming entangled in litigation. But what happens when an action is pending and, although your client is not a party, his or her interests may be adversely affected? Move to intervene.
Intervention is a procedure whereby an outsider can become a party to a pending action on its
Over the past year or so, we have made a point of highlighting in the “Check the Rules” series on this blog periodic updates to the individual practice rules of certain Commercial Division Justices, including Justice Eileen Bransten in New York County (twice, in fact), Justices Marguerite A. Grays and Leonard Livote in
In Miller v. Brunner, the Appellate Division, Second Department spoke clearly (again) about how to move to dismiss on the defense of release. In a case arising out of the Commercial Division in Kings County (Hon. Sylvia G. Ash), a question on appeal was whether the defense of release is considered “documentary
Your client wants to recover damages f
or breach of contract and demands that you assert as many causes of action as possible. In addition to the breach cause of action, you consider a declaratory judgment claim, right? Wrong! The Second Department has held time and time again that “[a] cause of action for a
Can substitution of a new plaintiff who has proper standing cause “surprise or prejudice” to a defendant after the statute of limitations would have expired, such that leave to file an amended complaint should be denied? Not if the two plaintiffs are the same person switching from their individual to representative capacity, held the Second