Skip to content
S4590Senate2011-2012 Session

Relates to the dismissal of abandoned cases in the civil court of the city of New York

Sponsor John J. BonacicSD-42Affects Legal
Status
In Senate Committee
Judiciary
Impact
Pending
Passage
Pending

Bill progress

Step 2 of 7

In committee · Judiciary

What's happening

Writing a plain-English summary… Track this bill to get it by email.

Why it matters

The daily · weekday mornings

Albany, before your first meeting.

Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.

Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.

Who cares

Headline styles

Sponsors

Primary sponsor
John J. Bonacic

Senator · Senate District 42

Chair, JudiciaryChair, Racing, Gaming And Wagering

No co-sponsors yet.

History

  1. Referred to judiciary
  2. Returned to senate
  3. Died in assembly
  4. Referred to judiciary
  5. Delivered to assembly
  6. Passed senateVote 62–0
  7. Advanced to third reading
  8. 2nd report cal.
  9. 1st report cal.447
  10. Referred to judiciary

Full text

The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.

Sponsor's memo

BILL NUMBER:S4590

Title of bill

An act to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to the dismissal of abandoned cases

This is one in a series of measures being introduced at the request of the Chief Administrative Judge upon the recommendation of her Local Courts Advisory Committee.

This measure would amend the CPLR to authorize the automatic dismissal of a case in the New York City Civil Court after the case is struck from the Court's calendar due to the plaintiffs default on a calendar call.

CPLR 3404 provides that a case "marked 'off" or struck from the calendar or unanswered on a clerk's calendar call" that is not restored within one year "shall be deemed abandoned and shall be dismissed without costs for neglect to prosecute." Moreover, the dismissal of he action occurs without "necessity of an order."

The problem is that the provision expressly limits itself to a "case in a supreme court or a county court." The courts have strictly construed this language and held that this provision does not apply to courts other than the Supreme or County Courts, such as the Civil Court. See Chavez v. Seventh Ave. Corp., 39 A.D.3d 454 (2d Dept. 2007)(finding that CPLR 3404 "only applies to Supreme Court and County Court cases" and not the New York City Civil Court; LoFredo v. CMC Occupational Health Serv., P.C, 189 Misc.2d 781,782 (App. Tem1, 2d Dept. 2001)(same).

The New York City Civil Court tries cases involving amounts up to $25,000 as well as small claims actions not exceeding $3,000 and decides residential landlord/tenant disputes. With annual filings of at least 600,000 cases, calendar control is of vital importance to this court.

By providing for automatic dismissal of cases in the Civil Court, this measure would assist the Civil Court in clearing from its calendar, in a manner that is expeditious and uniform, those cases in which the plaintiff has no intention to proceed.

This measure would have no fiscal impact upon the State. It would take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law.

2011 Legislative History: None. New proposal.

Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.