Opinion
378 Index No. 157648/21 Case No. 2022–03185
06-01-2023
David A. HIDALGO, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. Savanna HOGE et al., Defendants–Appellants.
Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP, New York (Patrick J. Lawless of counsel), for appellants. Essner & Kobin, LLP, New York (Howard Essner of counsel), for respondent.
Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP, New York (Patrick J. Lawless of counsel), for appellants.
Essner & Kobin, LLP, New York (Howard Essner of counsel), for respondent.
Moulton, J.P., Gonza´lez, Mendez, Rodriguez, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (James G. Clynes, J.), entered March 31, 2022, which denied defendants’ motion to change venue pursuant to CPLR 510(3), unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Plaintiff was injured when, while riding a bicycle in Suffolk County, he was struck by a vehicle owned and operated by defendants. Plaintiff designated venue in New York County based on his residence there.
The motion court providently exercised its discretion in denying defendants’ motion to change venue pursuant to CPLR 510(3) (see Leopold v. Goldstein, 283 A.D.2d 319, 320, 726 N.Y.S.2d 15 [1st Dept. 2001] ). Although defendants provided affidavits from four potential nonparty witnesses, they did not establish that justice would be promoted by a change of venue, since the affidavits of those witnesses lacked substance concerning the materiality and relevancy of their proposed testimony (see Gissen v. Boy Scouts of Am., 26 A.D.3d 289, 290–291, 811 N.Y.S.2d 20 [1st Dept. 2006] ). Furthermore, defendants failed to demonstrate the manner in which the potential nonparty witnesses would be inconvenienced by a trial in New York County, rather than Suffolk County (see Jacobs v. Banks Shapiro Gettinger Waldinger & Brennan, LLP, 9 A.D.3d 299, 780 N.Y.S.2d 582 [1st Dept. 2004] ).