Filannino v. Triborough Bridge & Tunnel Authority

34 A.D.3d 280, 824 N.Y.S.2d 244
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedNovember 14, 2006
StatusPublished
Cited by51 cases

This text of 34 A.D.3d 280 (Filannino v. Triborough Bridge & Tunnel Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Filannino v. Triborough Bridge & Tunnel Authority, 34 A.D.3d 280, 824 N.Y.S.2d 244 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Mark Friedlander, J.), entered April 6, 2006, which, to the extent appealed from, denied plaintiffs cross motion for partial summary judgment on his Labor Law § 240 (1) claim on the ground that it was untimely, affirmed, without costs.

On July 15, 2005, the parties entered into a stipulation, which was “so ordered” by Supreme Court, that, among other things, required plaintiff to file a note of issue on or before September 30, 2005. Plaintiff chose to file his note of issue on August 4, 2005, thereby placing this matter on the trial calendar and triggering the 120-day period for making summary judgment motions (see CPLR 3212 [a]). On November 29, 2005, three days before the 120-day period expired, defendants moved for partial summary judgment dismissing plaintiffs causes of action under [281]*281Labor Law §§ 200 and 241 (6). On December 13, 2005, 11 days after the time to make summary judgment motions had expired, plaintiff cross-moved for summary judgment on the issue of liability on his cause of action under Labor Law § 240 (1). Supreme Court granted certain aspects of defendants’ motion, denied the remainder thereof, and denied plaintiffs cross motion on the ground that it was untimely. This appeal by plaintiff, from that portion of the order which denied his cross motion, ensued.

In the absence of a court order or rule to the contrary, CPLR 3212 (a) requires summary judgment motions to “be made no later than one hundred twenty days after the filing of the note of issue, except with leave of court on good cause shown” (see Miceli v State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 3 NY3d 725 [2004]; Brill v City of New York, 2 NY3d 648 [2004]). Plaintiff, whose cross motion for summary judgment was made after the 120-day period had expired, contends that the cross motion was timely because it was made in response to defendants’ timely motion. Alternatively, plaintiff maintains that good cause exists for his failure to make a timely motion. Neither of these arguments is persuasive.

A cross motion for summary judgment made after the expiration of the statutory 120-day period may be considered by the court, even in the absence of good cause, where a timely motion for summary judgment was made seeking relief “nearly identical” to that sought by the cross motion (Fahrenholz v Security Mut. Ins. Co., 32 AD3d 1326, 1328 [2006]; Bressingham v Jamaica Hosp. Med. Ctr., 17 AD3d 496, 497 [2005]; see Altschuler v Gramatan Mgt., Inc., 27 AD3d 304 [2006]). An otherwise untimely cross motion may be made and adjudicated because a court, in the course of deciding the timely motion, may search the record and grant summary judgment to any party without the necessity of a cross motion (CPLR 3212 [b]; see Connors, CPLR 3212 [a]’s Timing Requirement for Summary Judgment Motions, 71 Brook L Rev 1529,1541-1542 [Summer 2006]). The court’s search of the record, however, is limited to those causes of action or issues that are the subject of the timely motion (see Dunham v Hilco Constr. Co., 89 NY2d 425, 429-430 [1996]; Baseball Off. of Commr. v Marsh & McLennan, 295 AD2d 73, 82 [2002]). Here, defendants’ motion was addressed to the causes of action under Labor Law §§ 200 and 241 (6), while plaintiffs cross motion concerned a different cause of action (i.e., Labor Law § 240) (cf. Osario v BRF Constr. Corp., 23 AD3d 202, 203 [2005] [plaintiff’s cross motion for summary judgment on Labor Law § 240 (1) cause of action made after [282]*282court’s deadline for making summary judgment motions nevertheless timely because made in response to defendants’ timely motions for summary judgment dismissing Labor Law § 240 (1) cause of action]).

Nor is plaintiff persuasive in arguing he proffered a satisfactory explanation for the untimeliness of the cross motion (see Brill v City of New York, supra; see also Perini Corp. v City of New York [Department of Envtl. Protection], 16 AD3d 37 [2005]). Plaintiff asserts that defendants, after repeatedly failing to produce a witness for a deposition, produced the witness on August 4, 2005, the date plaintiff filed his note of issue. The transcript from the deposition was certified by the court reporter on September 10, 2005 and plaintiff received the transcript approximately one month later. Although good cause for a late summary judgment motion can be established where a discovery request relevant to the motion was outstanding until shortly before the motion was made (see Gonzalez v 98 Mag Leasing Corp., 95 NY2d 124 [2000]; Cooper v Hodge, 13 AD3d 1111 [2004]; see also Kunz v Gleeson, 9 AD3d 480 [2004]), or where the movant was awaiting the receipt of deposition transcripts relevant to the motion (see Burnell v Huneau, 1 AD3d 758 [2003]), the deposition here occurred on the date the note of issue was filed and plaintiff received the transcript approximately eight weeks before the motion deadline. Plaintiff offered no explanation of why he could not have made a timely motion after receiving the transcript. As the Court of Appeals has stated, “[n]o excuse at all, or a perfunctory excuse, cannot be ‘good cause’ ” (Brill, 2 NY3d at 652).

In determining that good cause exists to consider the untimely cross motion, the dissent relies upon Gaffney v BFP 300 Madison 11, LLC (18 AD3d 403 [2005], affg 9 Misc 3d 1109[A], 2005 NY Slip Op 51457[U] [Sup Ct, NY County 2005]). In Gaffney, plaintiffs asserted that they were unable to make a timely motion for summary judgment because a defendant failed to produce a witness for a deposition until after the note of issue was filed and the transcript of the deposition, which plaintiffs needed for purposes of consulting with and retaining an expert witness in connection with the motion, was not received by plaintiffs until after the deadline for making summary judgment motions had expired (2005 NY Slip Op 51457DJ] at *2).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
34 A.D.3d 280, 824 N.Y.S.2d 244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/filannino-v-triborough-bridge-tunnel-authority-nyappdiv-2006.