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In our last “Check the Rules” post back in December, we noted the recent additions to the Manhattan Commercial Division bench, Justices Andrew Borrok and Joel M. Cohen, and promised to report back in early 2019 on any notable practice rules in their respective Parts.

My colleague Viktoriya Liberchuk’s perceptive post last week on the recent trend in the Commercial Division (and beyond) to formally encourage in-court “at bats” for young lawyers cited two specific rules from the newly-published “Practices and Procedures” for both Justice Borrok and Justice Cohen, both of whom encourage and even incentivize the “less senior attorney” or the “lawyer out of law school for five years or less” to argue motions before them.

In addition to advocating for the development of junior associates, Justice Borrok’s individual practice rules also suggest that he’s an advocate for the use of technology in the practice of law, or at least in his Part.  In his one and only published decision in 2019 thus far, Ostro v Ostro, Justice Borrok twice ordered the parties to comply with the court’s e-filing procedures, which is the subject of an entire section of his practice rules entitled “Electronic Filing.”

Justice Borrok has a handful of other techie practice rules worthy of note:

Be sure to “bookmark” your briefs and “hyperlink” your references to case law, etc.  Justice Borrok requires strict adherence to the requirement in Commercial Division Rule 6 that all briefs “shall include bookmarks providing a listing of the document’s contents and facilitating easy navigation by the reader within the document.”  He also “strongly encourages” the use of hyperlinks within documents submitted to the court.

Make sure you’re registered for “eTrack.”  As noted in Justice Borrok’s practice rules, as well as in the New York State Unified Court System’s description of the service, “eTrack is a case tracking service which enables you to track active Civil Supreme Court cases from all 62 counties of New York State.”  Justice Borrok requires that “parties and/or their counsel” litigating in his Part be registered for eTrack.

Check in at the “kiosk” outside the courtroom before appearing for a conference.  There’s a kiosk located near the courtroom entrance of Part 53.  Counsel are required to check in by entering the index number of their case, select and print the appropriate conference form(s), and fill them out before entering the courtroom.  By the way, be sure to set specific discovery dates in your proposed conference orders.  Open-ended “within 45 days”-type deadlines won’t cut it.

Submit your trial documents on a “flash drive.”  If you’re headed to trial before Justice Borrok, be sure to submit all your trial documents — including marked pleadings, prior decisions, notices to admit, deposition transcripts, and the like — “via flash drive prior to the hearings or start of trial.”

Be sure to check back with us in the coming months for notable decisions coming out of the newly-constituted Parts 3 and 53 in the Manhattan Commercial Division.

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As readers of this blog have come to appreciate, we here at New York Commercial DCheck the Rulesivision Practice tend to report on — among other things Commercial Division — the procedural particularities of litigating commercial matters before the various judges that have been assigned to the Commercial Division over the years.  Such particularities may arise from, say, a new or amended Commercial Division Rule, or from a new or amended Individual Practice or Part Rule.

For example, we repeatedly have reported on the particularities of the individual-practice rules of Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Eileen Bransten, who, along with her colleague Justice Charles E. Ramos (also no stranger to this blog), will be retiring this month and will be succeeded next year by incoming Justices Joel M. Cohen and Andrew S. Borrok.  In case you missed it, the New York Law Journal announced the appointments of Justices Cohen and Borrok to the Commercial Division just before Thanksgiving.

Speaking of procedural particularities and new Commercial Division judges, perhaps most particular of all are the Practices for Part 54 overseen by New York County’s most recent addition to the Commercial Division, Justice Jennifer G. Schecter, who was appointed in April 2018 and took over the docket of recently-retired Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich.

Justice Schecter’s Part Rules are numerous and specific — 58 if you’re counting (not including subparts) — and cover everything from file to trial.  Her rules seemingly anticipate anything that can arise during the course of a complex commercial litigation in a way that only someone who spent more than a decade as Principal Law Secretary to former Chief Judge Judith Kaye of the New York Court of Appeals and the aforementioned Justice Bransten can appreciate.

To be sure, there is much to consider in Justice Schecter’s rules, but here are 10 or so important reminders for practitioners litigating in her Part:

Rule 21 — Don’t ask your assistant or paralegal to call the court to confirm scheduling, etc.  “The court will only take calls from the parties’ attorneys of record.”

Rule 27 — Don’t dump documents on your adversary after hours.  “[W]hen a discovery deadline is set forth in a court order, that deadline is 5:00 pm, New York time.”

Rule 31 — Don’t withhold documents on the basis of privilege without serving a privilege log along with your production.  “Failure to serve a privilege log with the party’s production will, absent good cause, be deemed a waiver of the party’s objection on the ground of privilege.”

Rule 33 — Don’t send a colleague to a status conference without full knowledge of the case.  “Attorneys appearing for conferences must be fully familiar with the case [and] should be prepared to discuss the merits of their case at all conferences.”

Rule 34 — Bring everything with you to compliance conferences if you want the court to rule on a discovery dispute.  “Any party that wants to resolve a dispute about the sufficiency of a discovery response during a conference shall bring whatever will be needed to obtain a ruling, including copies of the disputed demands and responses.”

Rule 39 — Adhere to new Commercial Division Rule 17 concerning word limits and swear to it.  “Every brief, memorandum, affirmation, and affidavit shall include . . . a certification by the counsel who has filed the document describing the number of words in the document.”

Rules 40-41 — Don’t file an attorney “brief-irmation” or a party “brief-adavit” in support of a motion.  “Argument must be confined to the brief,” which “must accompany every motion.”

Rules 45 and 52 — Include complete copies of all contracts filed as exhibits to your motion papers.  “Excerpts of contracts may not be filed.”

Rule 54 — Agree with your adversary on a joint Rule 19-a statement of material facts or don’t bother.  “If the parties cannot agree on a joint statement, a Rule 19-a statement of facts is not permitted.”

Rule 55 — Obtain and file your oral-argument transcripts if you want a decision on your motion.  “Motions will not be marked fully submitted and the court will not issue a decision until the transcript is e-filed and the Part Clerk receives a hard copy of the transcript with the e-filing confirmation receipt.”

Be sure to check in early next year for future posts on the individual practices of incoming Manhattan Commercial Division Justices Cohen and Borrok.  In the meantime, a happy holiday season to all our readers!

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court rules

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 Queens County, and Justice Sylvia G. Ash in Kings County.

Continuing with this theme of local-rule vigilance, Commercial Division practitioners should take note some recent changes to the individual practice rules of Manhattan Commercial Division Justice O. Peter Sherwood.

Justice Sherwood’s Practices for Part 49, which were revised as of this month, provide some notable additions (and omissions) from his prior rules, which dated back to May 2014 before most of the Commercial Division Advisory Council’s new-rule proposals and amendments were adopted and implemented.

Be Prepared, Be Authorized. Justice Sherwood opens his practice rules with an express and emphatic reminder to attorneys practicing in his Part of the requirements under Rule 1 of the Commercial Division Rules that “counsel . . . must be fully familiar with the case . . . and fully authorized to enter into agreements, both substantive and procedural, on behalf of their clients.” In other words, appearing in Part 49 is no “cattle-call.” Attorneys should have factual command of their cases, as well as the requisite authority to bind their clients.

Separate and Describe Your Exhibits. Justice Sherwood now requires attorneys practicing in his Part who wish to annex exhibits to their correspondence or motion papers to separately e-file their exhibits and designate them with a “descriptive title.” In other words, a simple designation of “Exhibit A” won’t cut it. Attorneys must provide a description (e.g. “Operating Agreement, dated as of September 20, 2018”) so that adversaries and court personnel viewing the docket or other notice of filing can immediately understand what has been filed.

Get Advance Permission to Adjourn Appearances. Justice Sherwood now requires that requests for adjournment be submitted a full two business days in advance of the scheduled appearance. Justice Sherwood conferences his cases on Tuesdays, so that means attorneys must get their requests for adjournment in by no later than Thursday of the prior week.

Check Your E-Mail. Justice Sherwood’s new rules provide that the court may choose to communicate with counsel via e-mail “regarding scheduling matters or to make certain inquiries.” Note, however, that this line of communication only goes one way. It does not mean that attorneys practicing in Part 49 may “initiate communication with the court via email” or “use e-mail to make arguments.”

Complete Party Discovery Before Bothering Non-Parties. Justice Sherwood “strongly encourages” attorneys practicing in his Part to “attempt to confine their requests to parties to the action and resort to third-party disclosure only when it reasonably appears that the information being sought is otherwise unavailable.” Justice Sherwood also requires that all non-party subpoenas be “simultaneously served” on all parties, and that all documents and information produced in response be exchanged among all parties within five days of receipt.

Follow Instructions When Seeking to File Under Seal. Justice Sherwood’s updated practice rules provide specific instructions concerning the filing of documents under seal:

  • Applications to file under seal must be made by Order to Show Cause, which must be preceded by a meet-and-confer regarding the documents proposed for seal.
  • Motions will be considered in light of the limitations imposed under applicable case law, and the movant must propose redactions “as opposed to wholesale sealing.”
  • Any document proposed for seal must be filed in its original, un-redacted form as an exhibit, with the proposed redacted version filed “as a subset of that exhibit.”
  • All motions must be accompanied by a joint index of the documents proposed for seal, including the basis for sealing and any objection thereto.

Finally, as for notable omissions, Justice Sherwood appears to have dispensed with his former requirement – which, as far as I’m aware, was entirely unique to his Part – that  motion submissions also be provided to the court “in .rtf format on a computer disk.”

**Nota Bene** – Attention Kings County Commercial Division practitioners: How much is your case worth? The general practice rules for the Kings County Commercial Division also were updated this month to double the monetary threshold from $75,000 to $150,000.

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The New York Commercial Division was founded in 1993 “to test whether it would be possible, by concentrating on commercial litigation, to improve the efficiency with which such matters were addressed by the court and, at the same time, to enhance the quality of judicial treatment of those cases.” Among other things, its continual adoption of innovative new rules and amendments to existing rules has elevated the Commercial Division to being one of the world’s most efficient venues for the resolution of commercial disputes.

In our last installment of this blog’s Check the Rules series, we looked at the Commercial Division Advisory Council’s proposed amendment to Commercial Division Rule 17 concerning length of papers, along with some recent support from Commercial Division judges, including Justice Saliann Scarpulla of the Manhattan Commercial Division, whose decisions have taken lawyers to task for being long-winded.

It turns out that Justice Scarpulla also is an advocate of the efficiency associated with pretrial evidentiary hearings and immediate trials on material issues of fact under CPLR §§ 2218, 3211 (c), and 3212 (c), which, according to the Advisory Council in a recent new-rule proposal, are “significantly underutilized” and provide “yet another tool to help efficiently dispose of commercial disputes.”

Under the Advisory Council’s proposed new Rule 9-a, which essentially reinforces a court’s existing authority under the aforementioned CPLR provisions to direct evidentiary hearings, “parties are encouraged to demonstrate on a motion to the court when a pre-trial evidentiary hearing or immediate trial may be effective in resolving a factual issue sufficient to effect the disposition of a material fact of the case.” The proposed rule sets forth specific examples of such motions, including dispositive motions to dismiss and for summary judgment; preliminary-injunction motions; spoliation of evidence motions; jurisdictional motions; statute of limitations motions; and class action certification motions.

The idea behind proposed new Rule 9-a is to “expedite and streamline . . . questions of improper notice or other jurisdictional defects or dispositive defenses,” so as to avoid the kind of “litigation [that] continues for years through extensive discovery and other proceedings until trial where the fact issue is finally adjudicated and the case is resolved in a way that it might have been years ago.” In short, the proposed rule “is designed to reduce the waste of time and money which such situations create.”

As noted above, based on a couple recent decisions, it would appear that Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Saliann Scarpulla is on board with proposed Rule 9-a.

In January of this year, before Rule 9-a had even been proposed, Justice Scarpulla granted summary judgment for the plaintiff on a claim for breach of contract in a case called Seiko Iron Works, Inc. v Triton Bldrs. Inc. But because she was unable to “determine the total amount of damages to which [plaintiff w]as entitled based on the papers submitted,” Justice Scarpulla exercised her discretion under CPLR 3212 (c) to direct an evidentiary hearing on the material damages issues raised by the plaintiff’s dispositive motion.

Earlier this month, Justice Scarpulla expressly cited proposed Rule 9-a in a footnote to her post-hearing decision in Overtime Partners, Inc. v 320 W. 31st Assoc., LLC, a commercial landlord-tenant action seeking injunctive relief concerning the acceptance of a proposed sublessee under a master lease. After the tenant commenced the action by order to show cause, Justice Scarpulla “ordered a factual hearing to determine whether [the landlord] unreasonably withheld and delayed consent” to the proposed sublease. Citing CPLR 3212 (c) and footnoting proposed Rule 9-a, Justice Scarpulla expressly referenced her discretion thereunder to “order an immediate trial of an issue of fact raised by a motion when appropriate for the expeditious disposition of the controversy.”

Thus, it seems proposed Rule 9-a already is alive and well in the Manhattan Commercial Division, at least in spirit.  Look for its formal adoption in the near future.

As with all new-rule or rule-change proposals, anyone interested in commenting on proposed new Rule 9-a may do so by sending or emailing their comments to John W. McConnell, Esq. (rulecomments@nycourts.gov), Counsel, Office of Court Administration, 25 Beaver Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10004.

Perhaps I’m revealing too much about my abilities in a prior life to balance academic and social priorities, but does anyone else remember the “not less than X pages” page requirements for high-school and college term papers and the corresponding font, margin, and line-spacing tricks for getting the assignment over the finish line?

attorney competition

Well, it would appear that lawyers – being the “remarkably insecure and competitive group of people” that they are – suffer from the opposite affliction.  According to a recent proposal from the Commercial Division Advisory Council to amend Commercial Division Rule 17 concerning length of papers, “attorneys have incentives to unfairly squeeze additional content into the allotted pages” and “have developed techniques to ‘cheat’ the limit.”

The Advisory Council’s proposal to amend Rule 17 seeks to eliminate the unfair and disingenuous “incentives” and “techniques” currently utilized by attorneys through the implementation of word rather than page limits on their submissions to the court.

The current Rule 17 provides that “(i) briefs or memoranda of law shall be limited to 25 pages each; (ii) reply memoranda shall be no more than 15 pages and . . . ; (iii) affidavits and affirmations shall be limited to 25 pages each.”

The Advisory Council’s Rule 17 proposal “substitutes word limits in place of the page limits set forth in the current rule:  7000 words (currently 25 pages) in briefs, memoranda of law, affidavits and affirmations; and 4200 words (currently 15 pages) in reply memoranda.”

I’ve seen enough decisions expressly referencing Rule 17 over the years to suggest that the Justices of the Commercial Division would support the change.  Just two months ago, in Domingo v Bidkind, LLC, Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Saliann Scarpulla admonished the defendants’ counsel for “fail[ing] to adhere to the page limits provided in Commercial Division Rule 17 in this motion and in another related action.”  Others, like former Kings County Commercial Division Justice Carolyn E. Demarest, have instituted “appropriate penalties” for Rule 17 violations – including, for example, in her Aish Hatorah NY, Inc. v Fetman decision from 2015 where she flat-out “disregarded” the latter 27 pages of a 52-page brief in support of a motion to renew and reargue.  Former Westchester County and Manhattan Commercial Division Justices Alan D. Scheinkman and Richard B. Lowe, III issued similar penalties number of years ago in Reilly Green Mountain Platform Tennis v Cortese and LaRosa v Arbusman.

According to the Advisory Council, word limits, which are more precise and uniform in application, better serve the purpose and spirit of Rule 17 – namely, to “encourage attorneys to focus on strong, concise arguments, and ensure that judges and opposing counsel are not overwhelmed with meandering, repetitious briefs.”

Word limits on papers submitted in the Commercial Division also would conform to appellate brief-writing parameters currently operative in the First and Second Departments, which require parties to certify in writing that their submissions comply with the applicable word-count requirements.

Anyone interested in commenting on the proposed amendment to Rule 17 may do so by sending or emailing their comments to John W. McConnell, Esq. (rulecomments@nycourts.gov), Counsel, Office of Court Administration, 25 Beaver Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY  10004.

For the fifth installment of this blog’s ongoing “Check the Rules” series, we feature the individual practice or part rules of the Justices of the Kings County Commercial Division, particularly those recently instituted by Hon. Sylvia G. Ash.

As hyperlinked within any number of past posts on this blog, the Commercial Division’s official webpage – which encompasses all eight of its statewide locations, including the busy metro counties of New York, Queens, and Kings – provides users with county- and judge-specific practice information, including individual rules and procedures for many of its Justices. Check the Rules

Notably, however, the link to the Kings County Commercial Division, which contains separate links to bibliographical and contact information for its two Justices, Hon. Sylvia G. Ash and Hon. Lawrence Knipel, does not link to the individual rules for either Justice. Their rules can be found elsewhere on the NYCOURTS.GOV site, specifically here (Justice Knipel) and here (Justice Ash).

A couple of Justice Ash’s new rules are worth noting, particularly with respect to motion practice and pre-trial conferencing:

Motions. Justice Ash’s motion calendar, which is designated for Wednesday mornings, consists of two separate calendars – a “general motion calendar” and, to the delight of many practitioners, an “oral argument motion calendar,” which consists only of motions that have been fully briefed and submitted to the court in hard-copy format in advance of the calendar call. As a general rule, “Justice Ash will only hear arguments on motions that are on the oral argument motion calendar.” The bifurcated nature of Justice Ash’s motion calendar – particularly the oral argument motion calendar – presumably will facilitate rulings from the bench, which litigants interested in prosecuting and defending their commercial cases expeditiously no doubt will welcome.

Pre-trial Conferences. Justice Ash’s pre-trial conference calendar, which is designated for Thursday mornings, also is two-fold in nature. At the first pre-trial conference, the court will set a “firm trial date” – generally “three to five months out” – as well as a date for the second pre-trial conference. At the second pre-trial conference, parties must submit witness lists, exhibit books, motions in limine, and pre-trial memoranda, and their failure to do so “will result in an adjournment of the second pre-trial conference as well as the trial.”

Speaking of updates and resources, the webpage for New York’s electronic filing system (NYSCEF), also frequently hyperlinked on this blog, recently was updated to include the following resources:

  • Forms for general use in the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Court of Claims, and Surrogate’s Court, and for specific use in particular counties;
  • A PDF Checker allowing practitioners to validate acceptable documents for proper e-filing on the NYSCEF system;
  • A statewide list of Authorized Courts and counties for e-filing;
  • Links to Rules and Legislation concerning e-filing, including the Electronic Filing Rules for the Appellate Division, the Uniform Rules for the Trial Courts, and related Amendments and Administrative Orders; and
  • Links to News & Events concerning new features and functions on the NYSCEF system, including production build notes for practitioners, clerks, and administrators alike.

 

In one of our very first posts on this blog – entitled “First Things First:  Check the Rules!” – we reported on some updates in March of this year to Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Eileen Bransten’s individual practice rules.  We took the opportunity then to remind Commercial Division practitioners, in light of the frequency with which Commercial Division judges update their individual rules, to make a point of regularly checking the rules of those judges to whom their cases have been assigned.

Justice Bransten rules

Case in point:  Justice Bransten recently updated her practice rules for the second time this year.

Subscribers to CourtAlert, a New York case-tracking service, may recall receiving an email alert in early November, notifying practitioners that Justice Bransten had updated her practice rules as of October 27, 2017, and recommending that practitioners working on cases assigned to Part 3 download her newly-updated rules and forward them on to all other attorneys working on such cases.  A handy comparison with Justice Bransten’s prior rules highlights the following updates:

  • Status Conference Order Form:  In addition to providing Part 3 order forms for Preliminary and Compliance Conferences, Justice Bransten’s practice rules provide a New Model Status Conference Stipulation and Order form – which, as far as we can tell, is a first-of-its-kind in the Commercial Division.  The stated purpose of the form is “to assess the progress the parties have made and to determine what items are outstanding and what needs to be done to ensure that discovery is completed and the Note of Issue is filed in a timely fashion.”

The 33-page, comprehensive order form covers the waterfront, including but not limited to prior conferences and appearances; an updated description of the surviving claims and amounts demanded; general progress reports on document discovery and depositions, including any proposed new dates for completion; specific reports on electronic discovery and privilege logs; anticipated expert discovery, if any; and a status report on any progress toward settlement, including through the use of ADR.

Apropos to a number of recent posts on this blog, Justice Bransten’s new Status Conference order form makes specific reference to, and offers detailed descriptions of, virtually all the newer Commercial Division Rules that have been rolled out in recent years.

  •  Discovery Dispute Procedure:  In accordance with Commercial Division Rules 14 and 24, Justice Bransten prefers to resolve discovery disputes “through a court conference – not through motion practice.”  Her updated rules now provide for a dispute-resolution process that, in addition to requiring the moving party to submit a pre-conference position letter, permits “[t]he non-moving party to submit a rebuttal letter no later than 3 business days after the moving letter is filed.”  In addition to being e-filed on the NYSCEF system, all pre-conference letters must be submitted in hard copy before the Court will conduct the conference.
  • Motion Exhibits:  With respect to all motion submissions, Justice Bransten’s updated rules now specify that “Plaintiff shall use lettered exhibits [and] Defendant is to use numbered exhibits.”
  • Pre-Trial Submissions:  Finally, with respect to the parties’ pre-trial submissions, particularly the identification of witnesses, Justice Bransten’s updated rules make a point of clarifying that “[t]he Court need only be advised of witnesses each party will call as part of their case-in-chief [and] reserves the right to permit rebuttal witnesses upon application from the parties.”

**Nota Bene** – Once again, we would be remiss not to mention an upcoming Commercial Division-related event, particularly one concerning rule changes, sponsored by the Commercial & Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association.  On Thursday, January 18, 2018, the NYSBA will be sponsoring a webcast CLE entitled “Amendments to the Commercial Division Rules 2018:  A Renaissance in Commercial Litigation Practice.”  The CLE will cover recent rule changes concerning, among other areas, expert disclosure, limitations on depositions, non-party electronic discovery, and privilege logs.

Visitors to this blog may recall our recent posts (here and here) concerning the individual practice rules of Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Bransten and Queens County Commercial Division Justices Gray and Livote.  “Check the rules!”, was the cautionary theme of those posts.

But just how much of a stickler for compliance can one expect a judge to be with respect to the part’s individual rules?  And is there any precedent for enforcement – perhaps even some case law that can be cited by a party affected by a non-compliance?

More and more, counsel are being reminded of the importance of following the rules in the Commercial Division.  In at least two decisions this year, Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich gave such reminders to the bar when she admonished the parties for violating her part rules in the context of summary judgment motions.

With respect to motion papers filed in her court, particularly motions for summary judgment, Justice Kornreich’s “Practices in Part 54” clearly require, among other things, that:

·       “all e-filed documents must be OCR Text Searchable PDFs”;

·       all memoranda of law must include “cover pages, tables of contents, and tables of authorities, all three of which are mandatory”;

·       “the parties shall . . . prepare and file one joint Rule 19-a statement of material facts at least three weeks before the summary judgment motion is filed” and that “[i]f the parties cannot agree on a joint statement, no Rule 19-a statement of facts may be filed”; and that

·       “[i]f summary judgment briefs cite to deposition testimony, a complete copy of that deposition transcript must be filed.”

Simple enough, right?  Maybe not.

In Lau v Lazar, which involved cross-motions for summary judgment concerning the ownership and operation of an outpatient surgical center, Justice Kornreich reprimanded the parties for “substantially delay[ing] the court in resolving the instant motions” due to their filing of lengthy briefs that “lack[ed] tables of contents and authorities, that [we]re not text-searchable, and that contain[ed] almost no case law in violation of this part’s rules.”  Justice Kornreich also scolded the parties for “submit[ting] fact statements without citations to the record, forcing the court to piece together the factual background from the parties’ exhibits, which . . . did not include complete deposition transcripts.”

In Arizona Premium Fin. Co., Inc. v American Tr. Ins. Co., which involved cross-motions for summary judgment concerning the return of unearned insurance premiums, Justice Kornreich threw out altogether the defendant’s “proposed statement of material facts, which was submitted in violation of this part’s rules,” because the parties otherwise “were unable to agree on a joint statement of undisputed facts.”

“You are remembered for the rules you break“, remarked Gen. Douglas MacArthur.  In the Commercial Division, however, you don’t want to be remembered as the one who broke the rules.  Justice Kornreich’s recent Lau and Arizona Premium decisions serve as another, a best-practices reminder for the Commercial Division practitioner to first “check the rules”, then follow them!

Several weeks ago, we reported on some recent updates to Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Bransten’s individual practice rules. New York commercial litigators should take note of some recent changes in the Queens County Commercial Division as well.

According to an official announcement from the Queens County Commercial Division, as of April 3, 2017, all Commercial Division motions made before Justices Marguerite A. Grays or Leonard Livote must be made returnable directly before either judge in their respective Commercial Division Parts and on their respective motion days (as opposed to the Queens County’s Centralized Motion Part or “CMP”), with the corresponding Notices of Motion or Proposed Orders to Show Cause bearing the words “COMMERCIAL DIVISION” in boldfaced type.

Justice Grays’s individual practice rules and Justice Livote’s individual practice rules, particularly with respect to Commercial Division motions made before them (again, as opposed to the CMP), are virtually identical. Some specifics worth noting:

• Both judges designate Tuesdays as their motion day, first call at 10:00 a.m.;

• Both judges emphasize the above-referenced “COMMERCIAL DIVISION” marking requirement, cautioning that non-compliance “may result in the motion being calendared in the CMP”;

• Both judges require that all moving papers be filed in hard copy in the Motion Support Office “at least five business days prior to the scheduled return date.” All answering papers, cross-motions, and replies, on the other hand, “will be accepted only on the return date in the Part”;

• Both judges require in-person appearances by counsel or pro se litigants on the return date of all disclosure motions and Orders to Show Cause, cautioning that such “papers will not be accepted from a calendar service”; and

• Both judges require that all applications for adjournment be made in person on the return date. Again, “calendar service or non-attorneys will not be permitted to make applications for adjournments.”

These are welcome distinctions for litigants interested in prosecuting and/or defending their commercial cases expeditiously. Before April 3, 2017, a commercial litigator wishing to make a motion in the Queens County Commercial Division was left to navigate the many and specific procedures of the CMP where motions are seemingly ever subject to the prospect of being “administratively rescheduled,” “marked off,” outright “discarded,” or otherwise delayed because of some other emboldened, highlighted, and/or underscored procedural particularity.

You’re a commercial litigator in New York. You’ve just been brought in on a case pending in the Commercial Division before a particular Commercial Division judge.  Or maybe you’ve just received an administrative bounce to a Commercial Division RJI Addendum, assigning your case to a particular Commercial Division judge sitting in the county where you recently filed motion papers or requested a preliminary conference. What’s the first thing you do?  You check the rules, of course.

Obviously, that begins with familiarizing (or re-familiarizing as the case may be) yourself with the Commercial Division Rules – particularly Rules 7 through 24, which supersede the Uniform Civil Rules with respect to conferencing your case and engaging in motion practice.

Know the Rules

But you also should look to see whether the particular Commercial Division judge assigned to your case has individual practice rules – which rules, in turn, often supersede or otherwise modify the Commercial Division Rules. Those Commercial Division judges that have individual practice rules update their rules with some regularity, so you also should make a point of checking them periodically.

As a recent example, Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Eileen Bransten, whose practice rules begin with the general principle of application noted above – namely, that “the Commercial [Division] Rules govern all cases before Justice Bransten unless modified or changed below” – updated her rules in March of this year. Some of the more notable updates to Justice Bransten’s “Practices in Part 3” are as follows:

  • Correspondence with the Court:       All letters to Justice Bransten, including pre-motion conference letters under Commercial Division Rule 24, in addition to being e-filed on the NYSCEF system, must be “hand delivered” to her Part Clerk and must conform to the font requirements of “Times New Roman, Size 12.”
  • Court conferences: Justice Bransten’s updated practice rules link to forms for the New Revised Preliminary Conference Stipulation and Order, as well as the New Compliance Conference Stipulation and Order, both of which are required for conferences held in Part 3.
  • Filing under seal: Justice Bransten’s updated practice rules provide for extensive direction concerning the filing of documents under seal:
    • Applications to file under seal must be made by Order to Show Cause;
    • Parties must meet and confer regarding the documents proposed for sealing before making a motion to file under seal;
    • Motions to file under seal will be considered in light of the limitations imposed on sealing as dictated by recent case law; moving parties must propose document redactions “as opposed to the wholesaling sealing of documents”;
    • Any document proposed for sealing must be filed in its original, un-redacted form as an exhibit to the motion, with the proposed redacted version of the document filed “as a subset of that exhibit”;
    • All motions to file under seal must be accompanied by a jointly-created index of the documents proposed for sealing, to include the basis for the proposed sealing and any objection thereto.
  • Motion practice in general:
    • Justice Bransten requires a courtesy (hard) copy of all e-filed motion papers;
    • If a party wishes to submit a deposition/hearing transcript or an arbitration award as an exhibit to a motion, the document must be submitted in its entirety as opposed to excerpts;
    • When submitting a Statement of Material Facts under Commercial Division Rule 19-a in support of a motion for summary judgment, a party must provide specific “references to appropriate documentation” establishing that the facts are undisputed; the party opposing the motion must “first repeat the movant’s claimed undisputed facts followed by its response,” which also must provide “reference to appropriate documentation.”
    • Consistent with her prior rulings on the topic (see e.g. ZV NY, Inc. v Moskowitz 44 Misc 3d 1225[A] [Sup Ct, NY County 2014), attorney affirmations in which counsel present arguments of law – sometimes referred to as “memo-affs” or “brief-adavits” or “brief-irmations” – “will not be considered by the Court.”
  • Trial practice:
    • Justice Bransten will not give parties a trial date unless and until they have attempted some form of ADR, whether privately or through the Commercial Division’s ADR Program.
    • All pre-trial submissions (briefs, witness and exhibit lists, and motions in limine, etc.) must be “both e-filed and hand delivered to the Part in hard copy.”