DEFENDANT’S FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH DISCOVERY ORDERS WAS WILLFUL AND CONTUMACIOUS WARRANTING STRIKING ITS ANSWER (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the defendant’s (Motors’s) failure to turn over records despite four court orders and defendant’s attempt to mislead plaintiff about its compliance with the discovery requirements warranted striking defendant’s answer:

We find that Motors’s failure to produce these records was willful and contumacious, in view of the fact that it did not do so despite four courts orders, and in light of its interrogatory response implying that it had complied with its discovery obligations in an apparent attempt to mislead plaintiff (see CPLR 3216 …). Although the other defendants were represented by the same counsel as Motors, there is no indication that they exercised control over Motors or were in possession of Motors’s records … .

Motors’s dilatory behavior warrants striking its answer … . Lopez v Bronx Ford, Inc., 2022 NY Slip Op 06068, First Dept 10-27-22

Practice Point: Here defendant’s failure to comply with four discovery orders and its attempt to mislead plaintiff about its compliance was deemed willful and contumacious warranting striking defendant’s answer.