Opinion
March 28, 1988
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Becker, J.).
Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.
While there are some common issues of law and fact shared by these two actions, under all of the circumstances, including the disparity between the stages of litigation to which each case has progressed and the fact that principal claims in the two actions are based upon widely disparate legal theories, we conclude that it was not an abuse of discretion to deny the motion to consolidate (CPLR 602; see, Brown v. Brooklyn Union Gas Co., 137 A.D.2d 479; Aluminum Mill Supply Corp. v. Sky-view Metals, 117 A.D.2d 765, 767). We recommend that for reasons of judicial economy the trial of the fraud action precede the trial of the legal malpractice action (see, Brown v. Brooklyn Union Gas Co., supra). Thompson, J.P., Bracken, Brown and Weinstein, JJ., concur.