Opinion
11-24-2015
ANRON HEATING AND AIR CONDITIONING, INC., Plaintiff, v. AMCC CORP., et al., Defendants–Appellants,New York City School Construction Authority, Defendant,Franco Belli Plumbing and Heating and Sons, Inc., Defendant–Respondent,J.C. Ryan Ebco/H & G LLC, et al., Defendants.
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, New York (Frederick B. Warder III of counsel), for appellants. Michael Lichtenberg, Brooklyn, for respondent.
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, New York (Frederick B. Warder III of counsel), for appellants.
Michael Lichtenberg, Brooklyn, for respondent.
Opinion
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Laura G. Douglas, J.), entered February 3, 2015, which granted defendants AMCC Corp., Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and Charles Marino's (together, AMCC), motion for renewal and, upon renewal, adhered to its prior order, entered November 26, 2013, striking the reply to cross claims of AMCC and granting a default judgment against AMCC in favor of defendant Franco Belli Plumbing and Heating and Sons, Inc. (Franco Belli), unanimously affirmed, without costs. Appeal from the prior order, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as academic.
The IAS Court's entry of default judgment against AMCC and the striking of its responsive pleading was not a clear abuse of discretion (Fish & Richardson, P.C. v. Schindler, 75 A.D.3d 219, 220, 901 N.Y.S.2d 598 [1st Dept.2010] ). It is uncontested that AMCC violated three discovery orders over the course of more than a year, one of which was conditional and explicitly warned that failure to comply could lead to sanctions, including having its pleadings stricken. This Court has affirmed striking a party's pleading on the basis that the party's noncompliance was “willful, contumacious or due to bad faith” in similar situations (Loeb v. Assara N.Y. I L.P., 118 A.D.3d 457, 987 N.Y.S.2d 365 [1st Dept.2014] ). We agree with the IAS Court that AMCC has not provided a sufficient basis to support its purported excuse of its lawyer's mental illness as a justification for noncompliance (compare 219 E. 7th St. Hous. Dev. Fund Corp. v. 324 E. 8th St. Hous. Dev. Fund Corp., 40 A.D.3d 293, 294–295, 836 N.Y.S.2d 81 [1st Dept.2007] ).
We have considered AMCC's remaining contentions and find them unavailing.
GONZALEZ, P.J., TOM, MAZZARELLI, MANZANET–DANIELS, JJ., concur.