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SECOND DEPARTMENT TO JUDGES: DON’T DISMISS A COMPLAINT SUA SPONTE (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Dillon, made the following point explicit: a sua sponte dismissal of a complaint is almost never appropriate and almost always will be reversed:

Sua sponte dismissals are not appealable as of right (see CPLR 5701[a][2] …). The reason is that such dismissals are not, by definition, the product of motions made on notice for that particular relief as otherwise statutorily required. Nevertheless, the Second Department has consistently recognized the gravity of sua sponte dismissals and the lack of opportunity for aggrieved parties to have been heard on the dispositive issue at the trial level. Those circumstances have caused the Second Department to typically grant discretionary applications for leave to appeal (see CPLR 5701[c]), or relatedly, to deem notices of appeal to be applications for leave to appeal, which have been liberally granted … . * * *

The importance that courts not dismiss actions sua sponte absent extraordinary circumstances is grounded in a fundamental concept that lawyers and judges know well—that due process requires parties to be given notice and an opportunity to be heard about litigation issues … . Courts are to be bastions of due process. It is not the role of the court, within the moat of that bastion, to seize upon an issue not raised by any party in a motion and to unilaterally dismiss an action on the basis of that discrete issue, without providing the party whose claim is dismissed so much as notice of the issue and an opportunity for all parties to be heard on it. The Court of Appeals has cautioned the judiciary that “[w]e are not in the business of blindsiding litigants, who expect us to decide [matters] on rationales advanced by the parties, not arguments their adversaries never made” … . Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v Louis, 2024 NY Slip Op 02948, Second Dept 5-29-24

Practice Point: Judges should not dismiss complaints sua sponte because the parties are not given proper notice of the relevant issue and the parties do not have the opportunity to be heard on it.

 

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