Motion for Summary Judgment Denied as Untimely

On November 25, 2020, Justice Cohen of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Sassoon v. CDX Diagnostics, Inc., 2020 NY Slip Op. 33913(U), denying a motion for summary judgment as untimely, explaining:

This Court ordered, repeatedly, that all dispositive motion(s) shall be made within 30 days after the filing of the Note of Issue. Plaintiff filed the Note of Issue on February 10, 2020. Galen filed the instant motion on November 5, 2020, nearly eight months after the 30-day deadline. Therefore, the motion is untimely and will not be considered by the Court.

Galen insists that its motion was filed well within the applicable time limit, which Galen calculates as 120 days from Note of Issue and tolled by Executive Order 202.8. But the 120-day deadline - the default deadline for filing summary judgment motions supplied by CPLR 3212 [a] - was not in place here. While the Court did extend the Note of Issue deadline, the Court did not extend the 30-day deadline for filing dispositive motions once the Note of Issue was filed. As noted, the Note of Issue was filed on February 10, 2020. As such, Galen's motion was already untimely when Executive Order 202.8 went into effect on March 20, 2020.

(Internal quotations and citations omitted).

New York procedural law (including the special rules applying to litigation in the Commercial Division of the New York courts) is not particularly complex. Still, there are special procedural requirements, such as the time limits for moving for summary judgment. Contact Schlam Stone & Dolan partner John Lundin at jlundin@schlamstone.com if you or a client have questions regarding New York practice, and particularly regarding the rules governing practice in the Commercial Division.