JUDGE SHOULD NOT HAVE, SUA SPONTE, AFTER A COMPLIANCE CONFERENCE, ISSUED A PRECLUSION ORDER BECAUSE THERE WAS NO MOTION PENDING (FIRST DEPT).
The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the judge should not have, sua sponte, issued a preclusion order after a compliance conference because no motion was pending:
Order … which, upon granting plaintiff’s motion to reargue, reinstated his lost earnings claim but precluded the claim for years which tax returns are not produced to defendants, unanimously reversed, without costs, and the claim reinstated without limitation.
The underlying preclusion order should not have been issued sua sponte at a compliance conference, with no motion pending … . Sullivan v Snow, 2021 NY Slip Op 01873, First Dept 3-25-21