Opinion
CA 02-02855
June 13, 2003.
Appeal from an order of Supreme Court, Erie County (Mintz, J.), entered March 27, 2002, which denied the motion of plaintiffs to compel nonparty employees of defendant Kaleida Health to submit to further depositions and answer questions regarding statements made at a quality assurance review meeting.
CELLINO BARNES, P.C., BUFFALO (GERALD W. SCHAFFER, JR., OF COUNSEL), AND LAWRENCE A. SCHULZ, ORCHARD PARK, FOR PLAINTIFFS-APPELLANTS.
DAMON MOREY LLP, BUFFALO (AMY ARCHER FLAHERTY OF COUNSEL), FOR DEFENDANTS-RESPONDENTS KALEIDA HEALTH AND KIM MECCA, C.N.M.
PRESENT: PIGOTT, JR., P.J., GREEN, WISNER, BURNS, AND GORSKI, JJ.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
It is hereby ORDERED that the order so appealed from be and the same hereby is unanimously affirmed with costs.
Memorandum:
The order denying plaintiffs' motion to compel nonparty employees of defendant Kaleida Health (Kaleida) to submit to further depositions and answer questions regarding statements made at Kaleida's quality assurance review meeting is not appealable as of right ( see King v. Salvation Army, 240 A.D.2d 473; Andersen v. Cornell Univ., 225 A.D.2d 946). In the exercise of our discretion, we treat the notice of appeal as an application for permission to appeal and grant such permission ( see CPLR 5701 [c]; Roggow v. Walker, 303 A.D.2d 1003 [Mar. 21, 2003]). Supreme Court properly denied plaintiffs' motion. Statements made by nonparty Kaleida employees at Kaleida's quality assurance review meeting are protected from disclosure pursuant to Education Law 6527(3) ( see Lakshmanan v. North Shore Univ. Hosp., 202 A.D.2d 398, 399; Lenard v. New York Univ. Med. Ctr., 83 A.D.2d 860, 860-861).