Opinion
December 28, 1992
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Levitt, J.).
Ordered that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed and cross-appealed from, without costs or disbursements.
While the defendant North Shore University Hospital (hereinafter the hospital) perhaps did not diligently pursue all possible leads in its search for documents in compliance with court-ordered disclosure, under the circumstances herein, i.e., the eventual production by the hospital of various documents in compliance with the order, it was not an improvident exercise of the court's discretion to grant renewal, and upon renewal, vacate its previous order dated January 25, 1988, striking the hospital's answer, which was based upon a complete failure to comply with court-ordered discovery (see generally, Weiss v Flushing Natl. Bank, 176 A.D.2d 797, 798; Matter of Kennedy v Coughlin, 172 A.D.2d 666).
Contrary to the plaintiff's contention, the court's substitution of a lesser penalty, upon the hospital's incomplete compliance with the discovery order, was a proper exercise of its discretion (cf., Sawh v Bridges, 120 A.D.2d 74, 77-78). Accordingly, we decline to reinstate the order striking the hospital's answer.
We have examined the parties' remaining contentions and find them to be without merit. Sullivan, J.P., Balletta, Eiber and Miller, JJ., concur.