Opinion
12583 Index No. 154307/19 Case No. 2020-02800
12-10-2020
Mourad RAJI, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. SG AMERICAS SECURITIES, LLC, et al., Defendants–Respondents.
Law Office of Carlos M. Carvajal, New York (Carlos M. Carvajal of counsel), for appellant. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, New York (Kevin B. Leblang of counsel), for respondents.
Law Office of Carlos M. Carvajal, New York (Carlos M. Carvajal of counsel), for appellant.
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, New York (Kevin B. Leblang of counsel), for respondents.
Friedman, J.P., Kapnick, Webber, Kern, Singh, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Kathryn E. Freed, J.), entered January 8, 2020, which granted defendants' CPLR 3211(a) motion to dismiss the complaint, unanimously modified, on the law, to deny the motion as against defendants SG Americas Securities, LLC and Thomas Jacquot, and to reinstate those claims, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.
Plaintiff's prior federal action, in which he asserted timely claims under the New York State and City Human Rights Laws, was terminated by court order (see Fed Rules Civ Pro rule 41 [a][2] ). The prior action was thus not terminated by a voluntary discontinuance. As such, CPLR 205(a)'s saving provisions apply to render the instant complaint timely (see Extebank v. Finkelstein, 188 A.D.2d 513, 513, 591 N.Y.S.2d 434 [2d Dept. 1992] ; Censor v. Mead Reinsurance Corp., 176 A.D.2d 600, 601, 575 N.Y.S.2d 285 [1st Dept. 1991] ).
CPLR 205(a) cannot apply to render plaintiff's claims against defendant SG Americas Securities, Inc. (SG Inc.) timely, however, since SG Inc. was not a party to the federal action. Indeed, the complaint in the prior action "fails to even mention" SG Inc. (see Caplan v. Winslett, 218 A.D.2d 148, 153–154, 637 N.Y.S.2d 967 [1st Dept. 1996] ).