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Notice to the Bar: Preliminary Conferences in the Civil Court

Recently, the Civil Court of the City of New York enacted Administrative Rules governing the holding of Preliminary Conferences in the Civil Court. A copy of the Administrative Order adding Sec. 208.9 "Preliminary conference" can be found by clicking here. Addtionally, at the Civil Court Form Page, you can now find the following forms:
1. Request for Preliminary Conference,
2. Preliminary Conference Stipulation and Order for Discovery, and
3. Compliance Stipulation and Order.

Notice to the Bar: Rules of the Trial Scheduling Part (TSP) in Supreme Queens

Effective April 3, 2006, the Trial Scheduling Part (TSP) of the Supreme Court, Queens County, has issued the following Part Rules:

TRIAL SCHEDULING PART (TSP) RULES

Trial Calendar

The trial calendar will be called each day of the week commencing at 9:30 a.m., except on Tuesdays, at which time the trial calendar will be called after the motion calendar.

1. Every case on the trial calendar is deemed ready for trial to be sent forthwith to select, unless otherwise annotated CON for conference.
2. Only counsel of record or trial counsel shall appear for a case on the trial calendar. Failure to appear may result in a case being dismissed or set for inquest.
3. No adjournments will be granted on consent or by telephone.
4. Affirmations of actual engagement will not be accepted for any reason if the trial date has been fixed at least two months in advance. The attorneys previously designated as trial counsel must appear for trial on that date. If any attorney previously designated as trial counsel is actually engaged elsewhere, he or she must produce substitute trial counsel. If neither trial counsel nor substitute trial counsel is ready to try the case on the scheduled trial date, the court may impose any sanctions permitted by law. 22 NYCRR 125.1(g).
5. If a jury case is not settled or otherwise disposed, it will be sent to select a jury.
6. If a non-jury case is not settled or otherwise disposed, it will be assigned for trial.
7. All cases will be assigned for trial to the IAS justice, if available. If the IAS justice is unavailable, the case will be sent to the first available justice.

Motion Calendar

The motion calendar will be called on Tuesday mornings at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom 25. There will be no second call of the motion calendar.

Discovery and Summary Judgment Motions

1. Counsel must personally appear and be prepared to discuss and/or orally argue at the call of the motion calendar all discovery or summary judgment motions. If the moving party fails to appear, the motion will be marked off the calendar for non-appearance. If the opposing party fails to appear, the motion may be granted on default.
2. Discovery and summary judgment motions may not be marked submitted, even on consent of all parties, unless first conferenced by the Court.
3. Counsel must attach to all discovery and summary judgment motions copies of all pleadings and documents as required by the CPLR, including all preliminary conference, compliance conference, discovery orders, as well as stipulations.
4. Motions seeking leave to renew or reargue a prior motion shall include copies of all papers submitted on the prior motion and the order entered thereon.
5. The Court shall mark off of the motion calendar any motion that does not comply with rules 3 and 4 of this section.

Vacate Stay or Restore to Calendar

1. In order to vacate a stay or restore a case to the trial calendar, counsel must agree, choose a date certain for trial and file a stipulation to that effect, signed by all parties. The stipulation shall be filed with the clerk in the Trial Scheduling Part.
2. No motion to vacate a stay or restore a case to the trial calendar will be accepted for filing by the Motion Support Office unless accompanied by an affirmation or affidavit of attempts to comply with Rule 1 of this section. The affirmation or affidavit shall be affixed to the face of [the] notice of the motion and all sides must appear on the return date.
3. The Motion Support Office shall reject any motion which does not comply with the requirements of Rule 2 of this section.

Amendment to Part 202.8(h) of the Uniform Civil Rules for the Supreme and County Courts Online

Though the amendment of Part 202.8(h) of the Uniform Rules for New York State Trial Courts took effect on Jan. 17, 2006, I've had difficulty locating the official text online until now. OCA has published the actual text of the amendment. Click on this link, then scroll down to section "h" to view the new section:

(h) 60-Day Rule. If 60 days have elapsed after a motion has been finally submitted or oral argument held, whichever was later, and no decision has been issued by the court, counsel for the movant shall send the court a letter alerting it to this fact with copies to all parties to the motion.

Notice to the Bar: Rules of the Pretrial Conference Part (Supreme Queens)

The Pretrial Conference Part has recently come into operation in Supreme Court, Queens County. The Part is presently being presided over by Referee Leonard Florio, Esq. A copy of the Part's Rules follows:

Rules of the Pretrial Conference Part

All tort cases (excluding City-Corporation Counsel, Medical Malpractice and Commercial cases) in which a Note of Issue and Certificate of Readiness are filed shall be call in the Pretrial Conference Part (PTCP) four (4) months after said filing.

Prior to the pretrial conference, counsel shall confer in a good faith effort to identify issues not in contention, resolve all disputed questions without need for court intervention, and settle the case. Additionally, counsel shall have knowledge of their schedules and witnesses' schedules in order to permit the fixing of a trial date and a realistic estimate of the trial's length.

Counsel who appear are required to have full and detailed knowledge of all issues related to discovery, together with all orders and/or stipulations related thereto. Failure to appear as required may result in the imposition of sanctions.

The Referee shall report on the trial ready status of the action to the Justice presiding in the Trial Scheduling Part (TSP) who may issue any order deemed appropriate.

Electronic Filing Participation Encouraged in Some New York County IAS Parts

Please note that a number of the IAS Parts in New York County Supreme Court are encouraging counsel to participate in the Court’s Electronic Filing System. Justices Richter, Lehner, Smith, James, Kornreich and Sklar have joined the Justices of the Commercial Part in encouraging electronic filing. Details of the program can be found at the Court’s web site at https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/mainframe.html. Please note that the Court is also conducting "how-to" trianing classes for how to participate in the program. You can call the Court at 646-386-3033 to arrange a training class.

Supreme Queens Summer Motion Schedules

Please be reminded that (in non-matrimonial actions) the justices of the Queens County Supreme Court will NOT hear motions on the following days this Summer:

Tuesday Motion Calendars:
Agate (IA 24): August 2, 9
Levine (TSP): August 2, 9
Ellliot (IA 10): July 19, August 9
Brathwaite-Nelson (IA 22): August 9, 16
Flug (IA 9): August 30
O'Donoghue (IA 5): July 5
Grays (IA 4): July 26, August 2, 9, 30
Polizzi (IA 14): August 16, 23, 30
Kelly (IA 16): August 16, 23
Price (IA 6): August 16, 23, 30
Schulman (IA 7): July 19, 26

Wednesday Motion Calendars:
Dollard (IA 13): July 20, 27
Dorsa (IA 12): July 20, 27, August 3, 10
Golia (IA 21) August 24, 31
Hart (IA 18): July 13, 20; August 17, 24, 31
Kitzes (IA 17): July 27, August 3, 10, 17
Rosengarten (IA 23): July 27, August 3, 10
Satterfield (IA 19): July 6
Weiss (IA 2): July 20, 27

All other justices not specifically listed above will hear motions throughout the 7th, 8th & 9th Terms of Court, on their regularly scheduled motion days.

New Telephone Numbers for New York County Supreme and New York County Clerk

Starting on or about March 1, 2005, the entire telephone system and numbers of the New York County Supreme Court and the New York County Clerk will change.  Click here to read the Court's announcement.  Click here to access the new list of telephone numbers.

Updated Supreme Court information for Queens and Bronx Counties . . .

Queens
We've updated our listings of the Parts of Supreme Court, Queens County to reflect recent room changes. (10/9/04: link broken; since the Queens County Bar Association updated it's web site, we've linked to their updated Part listings. Click here for Part listings.)

Bronx
Please note that OCA has updated the listing of the Parts of Supreme Court, Bronx County. A useful addition to the OCA Bronx site is the Settlement Conference Work Sheet for the City Part presided over by Judge Paul Victor. Click here to access the work sheet. (10/9/04: Other forms are available at the City Part sub-site.)

So you think you know the rules of trial engagement . . .

I can't begin to count the times counsel ask us to submit an affidavit of trial engagement that is not accompanied by an affidavit of timely service upon adversary counsel. Learn or re-learn the Rules of the Chief Administrative Judge at this handy OCA web site.

The Uniform Rules for NYS Trial Courts now online courtesy of OCA . . .

OCA has posted a site dedicated to the Uniform Rules of Court, including the Uniform Rules for the Supreme and County Courts.