Commercial Division Blog: Current Developments in the Commercial Divisions of the New York State Courts

On March 11, 2024, Justice Andrew Borrok denied a plaintiff’s motion to amend his complaint to add new theories of liability after the Appellate Division dismissed his original claims. The decision in Finkelstein v. U.S. Bank, National Associate, As Trustee, Index No. 650849/2021, flagged a number of problems with the plaintiff’s proposed amended complaint, including that the claims were untimely and did not relate back to the original complaint. But the Court also noted that the Plaintiff had not shown a reasonable excuse for his delay in moving to amend to add the new claims, rejecting his argument that dismissal on appeal had altered the law in a way that justified amendment. The Court explained: Read More

On June 23, 2023, Justice Joel M. Cohen of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision and order on motion in Panzer v. Epstein, 2023 NY Slip Op 32099(U), granting respondent’s motion to confirm and denying petitioner’s cross-motion to vacate the Final Award. The Court also denied respondent’s motion to compel petitioner to accept the money amount specified in the Final Award as premature. Regarding its decision to confirm the Final Award, the Court explained: Read More

On May 19, 2023, Justice Joel M. Cohen, of the New York County Commercial Division, issued a decision in in Homapour v. 3M Props., LLC, 2023 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2496. The Court granted in part and denied in part the plaintiff’s motion for leave to amend the complaint, which was made following decisions made by the First Department and Second Department in the underlying action and related actions relevant to the motion. The Court denied the motion as to one specific claim which was barred by the prior First Department order, but otherwise granted the motion for leave to amend. Read More

Last month, the First Department announced a new pilot program, under which appeals from discovery orders entered in the Commercial Division must be perfected within four months, rather than the typical six months. According to the court, the goal of this pilot program is to "promptly resolve issues involving discovery disputes that should be addressed before a litigation can proceed." To qualify under this pilot program, the order on appeal must involve "exclusively" discovery issues, and the notice of appeal must be dated January 1, 2022 or later. Read More

The First Department has announced that, commencing on January 1, 2022, it will institute a Pilot Program to reduce the time within which to perfect interlocutory appeals from the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court from six to four months where the issues on appeal relate exclusively to discovery disputes. The First Department wrote >> Read More

On September 29, 2021, the Second Department issued a decision in Dorce v. Family Dollar Stores of N.Y., Inc., 197 A.D.3d 1289, dismissing an appeal as academic when an unchallenged, independent alternative ground for affirmance existed, explaining: Read More

On September 29, 2021, the Second Department issued a decision in Dorce v Family Dollar Stores of N.… Read More

On April 1, 2021, the First Department issued a decision in Kim v. Francis, 2021 NY Slip Op. 02072, … Read More

Upcoming arguments in the Court of Appeals in October 2020 that may be of interest to commercial lit… Read More

On March 23, 2020, we noted cases of interest from the oral arguments before the Court of Appeals in… Read More

On March 16, 2020, we noted a case of interest from the oral arguments before the Court of Appeals i… Read More

UPDATE: On April 6, 2020, the Court of Appeals cancelled arguments for the May/June session. Upcomin… Read More

On February 13, 2020, the Court of Appeals accepted two certified questions from the Second Circuit … Read More

Upcoming argument in the Court of Appeals in March 2020 that may be of interest to commercial litiga… Read More

On January 31, 2020, we noted a case of interest from the oral arguments before the Court of Appeals… Read More

Upcoming arguments in the Court of Appeals in February 2020 that may be of interest to commercial li… Read More

On September 6, 2019, Justice Grays of the Queens County Commercial Division issued a decision in Gl… Read More

Upcoming argument in the Court of Appeals in November 2019 that may be of interest to commercial lit… Read More

On October 17, 2019, we noted a case of interest from the oral arguments before the Court of Appeals… Read More

On August 29, 2019, the Court of Appeals accepted two certified questions from the Second Circuit in… Read More