UNSIGNED DEPOSITIONS WERE ADMISSIBLE AND EVIDENCE SUBMITTED IN REPLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN CONSIDERED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, although affirming the denial of defendants’ motion for summary judgment in this slip and fall case on other grounds, noted that the depositions were admissible and evidence submitted in reply should have been considered:

Although the plaintiff’s deposition transcript, which the defendants submitted in support of their motion, was unsigned, it was nonetheless admissible as the plaintiff raised no objection to its submission or accuracy and, in fact, requested that the Supreme Court “incorporate” his transcript into his opposition … . Regarding the deposition transcript of the decedent’s niece, which the defendants also submitted in support of their motion, the defendants demonstrated that they had submitted the unsigned transcript to the decedent’s niece for review, but that she failed to sign and return it within 60 days. Thus, the niece’s deposition transcript could have been used by the defendants as fully as though signed (see CPLR 3116[a] …). Furthermore, even though the evidence demonstrating the defendants’ compliance with CPLR 3116(a) was submitted by the defendants in reply, the court should have considered it, because it was in direct response to allegations raised for the first time in the plaintiff’s opposition papers … . The unsigned deposition transcript of the defendants’ property manager was admissible under CPLR 3116(a) since it was submitted by the defendants themselves and thus adopted as accurate … . Baptiste v Ditmas Park, LLC, 2019 NY Slip Op 02844, Second Dept 4-17-19