Opinion
February 19, 1998
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Alice Schlesinger, J.).
Despite the moving defendants' long history of noncompliance with a discovery schedule originally set by the IAS Court on April 11, 1995 and their failure to comply with its March 4, 1996 order, which had given the movants and their then attorney one final opportunity to cure their default, the court vacated its June 24, 1996 order under principles of basic fairness, finding that for the first time movants finally had competent counsel and should be given the opportunity to defend this action, alleging RICO violations, on its merits.
Given our strong policy favoring the resolution of disputes on their merits and the circumstances presented, where the IAS Court was fully familiar with all the prior proceedings and there was no finding of contumacious conduct or undue prejudice to plaintiff, we find the court's order a sound exercise of its discretion.
Concur — Milonas, J. P., Rubin, Tom and Andrias, JJ.