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DEFENDANTS IN THIS WRONGFUL DEATH CASE WERE ENTITLED TO DISCOVERY OF TAX RETURNS TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE MOTHER AND FATHER WERE MARRIED AT THE TIME OF MOTHER’S DEATH, IF SO, THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAD PASSED (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendants in this wrongful death case were entitled to discovery of tax returns to determine whether the parents of the plaintiff-children were married. If the parents were married when mother died, the statute of limitations had passed:

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Individual tax returns are generally not discoverable unless the movant makes a ” requisite showing that [the] tax returns [are] indispensable to [the] litigation and that [the] relevant information possibly contained therein [is] unavailable from other sources’ ” … . A wrongful death action has a two-year statute of limitations from the date of the decedent’s death…  Where the sole distributee is an infant, the statute is tolled “until appointment of a guardian or the majority of the sole distributee, whichever is earlier”… . Where, however, the decedent is married and the surviving spouse is thus a distributee of the estate, the infancy toll does not apply because the spouse “was available both to seek appointment as the personal representative of the estate and to commence an action on behalf of the children in a timely fashion” … . Has K’Paw Mu v Lyon, 2018 NY Slip Op 00687, Fourth Dept 2-2-18

CIVIL PROCEDURE (DISCOVERY, TAX RETURNS, DEFENDANTS IN THIS WRONGFUL DEATH CASE WERE ENTITLED TO DISCOVERY TAX RETURNS TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE MOTHER AND FATHER WERE MARRIED AT THE TIME OF MOTHER’S DEATH, IF SO, THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAD PASSED (FOURTH DEPT))/DISCOVERY (TAX RETURNS, DEFENDANTS IN THIS WRONGFUL DEATH CASE WERE ENTITLED TO DISCOVERY TAX RETURNS TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE MOTHER AND FATHER WERE MARRIED AT THE TIME OF MOTHER’S DEATH, IF SO, THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAD PASSED (FOURTH DEPT))/TAX RETURNS (CIVIL PROCEDURE, DISCOVERY, DEFENDANTS IN THIS WRONGFUL DEATH CASE WERE ENTITLED TO DISCOVERY TAX RETURNS TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE MOTHER AND FATHER WERE MARRIED AT THE TIME OF MOTHER’S DEATH, IF SO, THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAD PASSED (FOURTH DEPT))/STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS (WRONGFUL DEATH, DISCOVERY, TAX RETURNS, DEFENDANTS IN THIS WRONGFUL DEATH CASE WERE ENTITLED TO DISCOVERY TAX RETURNS TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE MOTHER AND FATHER WERE MARRIED AT THE TIME OF MOTHER’S DEATH, IF SO, THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAD PASSED (FOURTH DEPT))/WRONGFUL DEATH  (DISCOVERY, TAX RETURNS, DEFENDANTS IN THIS WRONGFUL DEATH CASE WERE ENTITLED TO DISCOVERY TAX RETURNS TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE MOTHER AND FATHER WERE MARRIED AT THE TIME OF MOTHER’S DEATH, IF SO, THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAD PASSED (FOURTH DEPT))/TRUSTS AND ESTATES (WRONGFUL DEATH, DISCOVERY, TAX RETURNS, DEFENDANTS IN THIS WRONGFUL DEATH CASE WERE ENTITLED TO DISCOVERY TAX RETURNS TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE MOTHER AND FATHER WERE MARRIED AT THE TIME OF MOTHER’S DEATH, IF SO, THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAD PASSED (FOURTH DEPT))

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“Door-Opening Rule” Applied to Allow Otherwise Inadmissible Evidence/Jury-Note Error Not Preserved

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