Court Denies Motion To Compel Post-Judgment Deposition Since It Was Sought Under Wrong Article of the CPLR

On March 13, 2024, Justice Joel M. Cohen denied, without prejudice, plaintiffs’ motion to compel a deposition of defendant. The decision in Law Office of Mark. S. Helweil v. Karambelas, Index. No. 159060/2018, explained:

However, the requested deposition cannot be compelled on the current record. Plaintiffs sought the deposition under Article 31, which applies to depositions during the course of the litigation itself. A deposition in connection with post-judgment proceedings should be sought by subpoena under Article 52. Accordingly, the motion to compel as to the Notice of Deposition is denied without prejudice to a subsequent motion if Plaintiffs subpoena Defendant for deposition and she fails to comply. Given her prior failures to comply with proper post-judgment discovery requests, the Court strongly urges Defendant to sit for deposition without the need for a motion.

Post-judgment discovery proceeds under Article 52 of the CPLR, as opposed to Article 31, and lawyers and their clients should be sure to use the mechanism under the proper Article of the CPLR lest their discovery be delayed.

Contact the Commercial Division Blog Committee at commercialdivisionblog@schlamstone.com if you or a client have questions concerning the post-judgment enforcement or discovery.