Opinion
16-008
01-22-2016
Richard Bennett, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Mario Yagobi, a/k/a Mario Yaghoubi, Anthony Yagobi a/k/a Anthony Monie a/k/a Mehrzad Yaghoubi, Sunrise Shadow LLC, Defendants-Appellants.
PRESENT: Shulman, J.P., Hunter, Jr., Ling-Cohan, JJ.
Defendants appeal from that portion of an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, New York County (David B. Cohen, J.), dated October 29, 2014, which denied their motion for the imposition of sanctions pursuant to 22 NYCRR § 130.1.1.
Per Curiam.
Order (David B. Cohen, J.), dated October 29, 2014, insofar appealed from, affirmed, without costs.
While dismissal of this action for unpaid attorneys' fees was warranted based upon plaintiff's failure to comply with the rules pertaining to fee disputes and arbitration (see 22 NYCRR § 137.6), we find no basis to disturb the court's denial of defendants' motion for sanctions pursuant to 22 NYCRR § 130-1.1. "Trial judges should be accorded wide latitude to determine the appropriate sanctions for dilatory and improper attorney conduct and we will defer to a trial court regarding sanctions determinations unless there is a clear abuse of discretion" (Pickens v Castro, 55 AD3d 443, 444 [2008]). On this record, we find no such clear abuse of discretion, since the challenged conduct - plaintiff's failure to discontinue the action "within 7 days" - did not constitute the type of frivolous conduct warranting the imposition of sanctions.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.
I concur I concur I concur
Decision Date: January 22, 2016