Opinion
3088N.
Decided April 8, 2004.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Milton Tingling, J.), entered May 21, 2003, which granted defendant Norbeck's motion to change venue of this action to Suffolk County, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, the motion denied and the transfer order vacated.
Jeffrey I. Schwimmer, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Michael Nashak, for Defendant-Respondent.
Before: Andrias, J.P., Saxe, Sullivan, Gonzalez, JJ.
In this personal injury action resulting from a one-car accident, the motion court improvidently exercised its discretion in granting defendant Norbeck's motion to transfer venue to Suffolk County, notwithstanding the fact that the accident occurred there. Norbeck has not disputed plaintiff's assertion that codefendant Scuderi is a New York County resident so that venue was properly designated in New York County in the first instance based on the residence of a party (CPLR 503[a]).
Further, Norbeck failed to establish the criteria needed to demonstrate her entitlement to a discretionary change of venue based on the convenience of material witnesses pursuant to CPLR 510(3) ( Darcy v. Adco Electric, Inc., 303 A.D.2d 359; O'Brien v. Vassar Bros. Hosp., 207 A.D.2d 169, 172-173; Cardona v. Aggressive Heating Inc., 180 A.D.2d 572, 572-573). Norbeck has made no showing of the identity and availability of proposed nonparty witnesses, the nature and materiality of their proposed testimony and the manner in which they would be inconvenienced by the initial venue ( see Martinez v. Dutchess Landaq, Inc., 301 A.D.2d 424, 425; Rodriguez v. Port Author., 293 A.D.2d 325, 326; cf. Kennedy v. C.F. Galleria at White Plains, L.P., 2 A.D.3d 222; Edney v. Raymond Corp., 303 A.D.2d 336).
Aguanno v. Kostopoulos ( 2 A.D.3d 177) is not to the contrary. In that case, the only connection to New York County was that a foreign corporate defendant had filed a designation with the New York Department of State stating that its principal corporate office would be in New York County. In addition, in Aguanno ( 2 A.D.3d at 177) there was evidence that all of the individual parties and witnesses lived or worked in Nassau County, where venue was transferred, while no such evidence was offered in this case.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.