From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Frazier v. Campbell

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jan 12, 1998
246 A.D.2d 509 (N.Y. App. Div. 1998)

Opinion

January 12, 1998

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Dutchess County (Beisner, J.).


Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law, the motion is denied, and a new trial is granted, with costs to abide the event.

After the close of the plaintiff's case, the defendant moved for judgment as a matter of law on the ground that the plaintiff failed to make out a prima facie case. The plaintiff cross-moved to reopen his case in order to introduce testimony from the defendant concerning, inter alia, the defendant's observations on the day of the accident and where the victim was standing when the defendant first saw her. The Trial Judge granted the defendant's motion and declined to permit the plaintiff to reopen his case after listening to an offer of proof. We disagree.

It is well settled that trial courts have the power to permit a litigant to reopen his case under appropriate circumstances (see, Feldsberg v. Nitschke, 49 N.Y.2d 636, 643). Since the plaintiff specified the evidence he would present if permitted to reopen and since there would have been no undue delay for presentation of such proof to the jury, the motion should have been granted absent a showing of prejudice. Here, we find that there was no showing of prejudice by the defendant sufficient to deprive the plaintiff of his day in court and under similar circumstances, this Court has determined that a plaintiff should be permitted to reopen his or her case (see, Lagana v. French, 145 A.D.2d 541).

Joy, J.P., Krausman, Florio and McGinity, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Frazier v. Campbell

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jan 12, 1998
246 A.D.2d 509 (N.Y. App. Div. 1998)
Case details for

Frazier v. Campbell

Case Details

Full title:EUGENE FRAZIER, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of ANNA…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Jan 12, 1998

Citations

246 A.D.2d 509 (N.Y. App. Div. 1998)
667 N.Y.S.2d 394

Citing Cases

Firmes v. Manhattan

III. Supplemental Medical Records The Supreme Court was vested with discretion to allow the plaintiff to…

Torres v. Sedgwick Ave. Dignity Developers

In reopening a case, "the trial court should consider whether the movant has provided a sufficient offer of…