Meyer v. Hospital For Special Surgery

156 A.D.2d 128, 548 N.Y.S.2d 882, 1989 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 15212

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: December 5, 1989
• Status: Published

Opinion

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Michael J. Dontzin, J.), entered on August 18, 1988, which granted plaintiffs’ motion for renewal and, upon renewal, granted plaintiffs leave to serve a late CPLR 3406 notice of medical malpractice action and denied defendants’ cross motion to dismiss the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Pursuant to CPLR 3406, a notice of malpractice action must be filed not more than 60 days after issue is joined. Filing time may be extended upon motion for good cause shown (Tewari v Tsoutsouras, 75 NY2d 1). In conjunction with his motion papers, plaintiff filed copies of verified pleadings and a bill of particulars plus exhibits, including numerous authorizations and an attorney’s certificate of merit. Contrary to defendants’ assertions, the court did not abuse its discretion in finding that plaintiffs offered a reasonable excuse for delay and that the exhibits and certificate of merit, appended to the motion papers, demonstrated a meritorious claim sufficient to grant the motion. Public policy favors disposition of cases on their merits (Wilenski v Auricchio Monuments, 102 AD2d 824). Concur—Kupferman, J. P., Sullivan, Milonas, Rosenberger and Wallach, JJ.