Opinion
Submitted January 24, 2001
February 20, 2001.
In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for personal injuries, the defendant Suzanne Snyder Rose, as Executrix of the Estate of David Snyder, appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Schmidt, J.), dated August 31, 2000, which granted the plaintiff's motion to substitute her as a defendant in place and stead of the defendant "New York City Marshall David Snyder".
Richard A. Klass, Brooklyn, N.Y., for appellant.
O'Dwyer Bernstien, LLP, New York, N.Y. (David H. Schultz and Gary Silverman of counsel), for respondent.
Before: SANTUCCI, J.P., ALTMAN, LUCIANO and H. MILLER, JJ., concur.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, with costs.
The Supreme Court providently exercised its discretion in granting the plaintiff's motion to substitute Suzanne Snyder Rose, as Executrix of the Estate of David Snyder, as a defendant in place and stead of the defendant "New York City Marshal David Snyder". Rose had received letters testamentary while the action was pending. While the plaintiff did not satisfactorily explain the lengthy delay in making the motion, in view of the active participation in discovery by Snyder's former attorney after Snyder's death, the absence of any showing that the delay prejudiced the decedent's estate, and the strong public policy that matters should be disposed of on the merits (see, Macomber v. Cipollina, 226 A.D.2d 435; Criaris v. Weber, 158 A.D.2d 502; Egrini v. Brookhaven Mem. Hosp., 133 A.D.2d 610), the motion was properly granted.