Opinion
Submitted June 18, 1999
December 7, 1999
In an action to recover damages for medical malpractice, etc., the defendants appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Jones, J.), dated July 13, 1998, which denied their motion for leave to serve and file an amended answer asserting the affirmative defense of failure to mitigate damages.
Rossano, Mos Andron of counsel), for appellants, P.C., Garden City, N Y (Anne
Michael F. Perrotta, Huntington, N.Y., for respondents.
LAWRENCE J. BRACKEN, J.P., WILLIAM D. FRIEDMANN, GLORIA GOLDSTEIN, LEO F. McGINITY, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, with costs.
The decision to grant or deny leave to amend a pleading is within the court's discretion, and the exercise of such discretion will not be lightly disturbed ( see, Sherman v. Claire Mfg. Co., 239 A.D.2d 487. In this case the defendants did not seek leave to amend the answer in a timely manner, failed to proffer any reasonable excuse for the delay ( see, Romeo v. Arrigo, 254 A.D.2d 270), and did not proffer an adequate showing of merit ( see, Bertan v. Richmond Mem. Hosp. Health Center, 106 A.D.2d 362). Accordingly, the denial of their motion was not an improvident exercise of discretion.
BRACKEN, J.P., FRIEDMANN, GOLDSTEIN, and McGINITY, JJ., concur.