Plowden v. Manganiello

143 Misc. 2d 446, 540 N.Y.S.2d 1020, 1989 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 274
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedApril 24, 1989
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 143 Misc. 2d 446 (Plowden v. Manganiello) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Plowden v. Manganiello, 143 Misc. 2d 446, 540 N.Y.S.2d 1020, 1989 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 274 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1989).

Opinion

[447]*447OPINION OF THE COURT

Lewis R. Friedman, J.

The motion by the City of New York for a stay of execution of the judgment previously entered pending the ultimate appellate resolution in this case presents this court with a complex question of the operation of CPLR 5519 which is rarely presented to a trial court.

This case arises from an automobile accident that occurred on September 3, 1980. Defendant Felicia Manganiello was driving on Castle Hill Avenue in the left-hand northbound lane when she heard police sirens. Unable to ascertain where the sound was coming from she stopped for 10 to 15 seconds; she was unable to pull her car to the right (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1144) since her path was blocked by traffic. She signaled and then turned left. She was struck in the rear by an unmarked police car, driven by defendant Meyer, heading north in a southbound lane, with its headlights and siren, but not the turret light, operating. Officer Meyer, answering an emergency call, had pulled into the lane of oncoming traffic to pass the stopped vehicles. The collision which ensued propelled the Manganiello car across the intersection, caused it to jump the curb and strike both Beverly Plowden and her infant, Jashane Plowden, on the sidewalk. After trial before Justice Delaney, the jury awarded plaintiffs in excess of $5 million against the city and Meyer but found in favor of the Manganiello defendants. In his October 1, 1986 decision on the city’s posttrial motion, Justice Delaney directed a verdict against the Manganiello defendants and ordered a new trial to apportion damages. The decision also ordered a new trial on the amount of damages unless plaintiffs stipulated to reduce the verdict to amounts that aggregated $1,010,000. All parties appealed.

On March 8, 1988, the Appellate Division modified the posttrial order by setting aside the liability verdict against the Manganiello defendants and ordering a new trial on their liability; as modified, the remainder of the decision was affirmed (Plowden v Manganiello, 138 AD2d 243). None of the parties sought permission to appeal from the Appellate Division’s order. Plaintiffs then consented to the remittitur of the verdict and, on June 15, 1988, entered judgments aggregating nearly $1,200,000, including prejudgment interest.

The city thereafter moved in the Court of Appeals for permission to appeal. In its papers the city contended that the [448]*448June 15 judgment was a "final judgment” so that leave to appeal could be granted pursuant to CPLR 5602 (a) (1) (ii). The motion was "dismissed” by the Court of Appeals on October 25, "upon the ground that the order sought to be appealed from does not finally determine the action within the meaning of the Constitution” (Plowden v Manganiello, 72 NY2d 1042).

On October 28, the city served the other parties with an affidavit in which it claimed that, "[a]t such time as a final, appealable order is entered in this matter, said defendants intend to move for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals from said judgment.” Plaintiffs seek to collect their judgment. The city, however, claims that, since it served "an affidavit of intention to move for permission to appeal”, there is an automatic, statutory stay of execution (CPLR 5519 [a] [1]). In the instant motion the city seeks, pursuant to CPLR 5519, to enjoin plaintiffs "from executing on and enforcing the $1 million dollar money judgment entered herein against the City until final resolution of this case can be had in the Court of Appeals.”

There are no cases directly on point; yet, this court has no doubt that none of the stays authorized by CPLR 5519 may be granted in this proceeding. The city’s motion contains a basic conceptual flaw in analysis — there is no currently appealable paper in existence. The court finds that CPLR 5519 does not apply, and was not intended to apply, to contingent prospective appeals.

The language of CPLR 5519 necessarily implies that the section applies only to extant orders and judgment. Thus, the introductory part of CPLR 5519 (a) refers to a stay of "all proceedings to enforce the judgment or order appealed from”. The entire structure of CPLR 5519 relies on the premise that a stay affects only the immediate order or judgment involved, not any other order in the same case (see, e.g., Walker v Delaware & Hudson R. R. Co., 120 AD2d 919; Matter of Gordon v Town of Esopus, 107 AD2d 114, 115). For example, a stay granted by CPLR 5519 (a) (1) continues until "five days after the service * * * of the order of affirmance or modification with notice of its entry” and may be continued by appealing further or making a motion for permission to appeal within the five-day period (CPLR 5519 [e]; see, DFI Communications v Greenberg, 41 NY2d 1017). Clearly a continuation of the stay created by the appeal from the original decision did not take effect here; the relevant time period has long since passed. Indeed, the motion for permission to appeal [449]*449to the Court of Appeals which was dismissed did not, itself, act as a further stay. In McCain v Koch (68 NY2d 713, 714) the Court of Appeals explained that there is no stay where a municipal party moves for permission to appeal from a nonfinal order of the Appellate Division "from which no appeal lies to this court.”

The city, in an effort to avoid the clear intent of CPLR 5519, claims that its "affidavit of intention” relates to the appeal which it will seek to take to the Court of Appeals from the final judgment which will eventually be entered in this case

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
143 Misc. 2d 446, 540 N.Y.S.2d 1020, 1989 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 274, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/plowden-v-manganiello-nysupct-1989.