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Bell v. Charles

Appellate Term of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Mar 8, 2010
2010 N.Y. Slip Op. 50342 (N.Y. App. Term 2010)

Opinion

570613/08.

Decided March 8, 2010.

Defendants Jerry Charles and United Fleet Inc., as limited by their briefs, appeal from so much of an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County (Julia I. Rodriguez, J.), dated February 8, 2008, as denied their motion to dismiss the complaint of plaintiffs Gonzalez and Agron.

Order (Julia I. Rodriguez, J.), dated February 8, 2008, insofar as appealed from, affirmed, without costs.

PRESENT: McKeon, P.J., Schoenfeld, J.


Mindful that CPLR 3216 is "extremely forgiving of litigation delay" ( Baczkowski v Collins Constr. Co., 89 NY2d 499, 503), we find no abuse of discretion in the denial of defendants-appellants' motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to prosecute. Plaintiffs' counsel offered several persuasive reasons for the general pre-notice delay, and to the extent plaintiffs' failure to timely respond to the 90-day notice was attributable to counsel's neglect, the species of law office failure here involved should not defeat the rights of the injured infants on whose behalf the action was brought. Moreover, a credibly meritorious claim can be gleaned from the record and movants allege no particular prejudice from the delay ( see Espinoza v 373-381 Park Ave. S., LLC, 68 AD3d 532).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.


Summaries of

Bell v. Charles

Appellate Term of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Mar 8, 2010
2010 N.Y. Slip Op. 50342 (N.Y. App. Term 2010)
Case details for

Bell v. Charles

Case Details

Full title:BYRON BELL, an infant under the age Natural Guardian ANJANETTE BELL, and…

Court:Appellate Term of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department

Date published: Mar 8, 2010

Citations

2010 N.Y. Slip Op. 50342 (N.Y. App. Term 2010)
907 N.Y.S.2d 98