Register v. KNW Apartments, LLC

137 A.D.3d 452, 25 N.Y.S.3d 874

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: March 3, 2016
• Docket: 390 302904/12
• Status: Published

Opinion

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Faviola Soto, J.), entered May 19, 2015, sua sponte dismissing plaintiff’s complaint against defendants KNW Apartments, LLC and Urban American Management, LLC, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, the complaint reinstated, and the matter remitted to Supreme Court, Bronx County, for further proceedings.

During a conference between counsel and the trial court, the trial court improvidently exercised its discretion in dismissing plaintiff’s case, given that plaintiff’s counsel had not violated any court order and had not received any warning that his conduct might lead to dismissal. Sua sponte dismissal of a proceeding is warranted only where the record presents “extraordinary circumstances” (Thornton v New York City Bd. / Dept. of Educ., 125 AD3d 444, 445 [1st Dept 2015]). Such circumstances were not present here, where plaintiff’s counsel was merely attempting, during jury selection, to preserve his objections for appeal.

We have considered all other claims and find them to be unavailing.

Concur—Tom, J.R, Saxe, Richter and Kapnick, JJ.