THE ATTORNEY’S “CERTIFICATE OF TRANSLATION” DID NOT INCLUDE SUFFICIENT DETAIL ABOUT THE ATTORNEY’S KNOWLEDGE OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE; THEREFORE THE TRANSLATION OF PLAINTIFF’S AFFIDAVIT WAS NOT ADMISSIBLE AND SUMMARY JUDGMENT WAS NOT SUPPORTED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing summary judgment in favor of plaintiff in this traffic accident case, determined the attorney’s “certificate of translation” was not sufficient to render plaintiff’s affidavit, written in Spanish, admissible:

… [P]laintiff submitted an affidavit in which he averred, among other things, that the “affidavit was translated to me from English to Spanish prior to my signing by a person who speaks Spanish as it is my native language and the language I understand best.” The plaintiff also submitted a certificate of translation by an associate attorney at his counsel’s law office in which the associate attorney affirmed, without elaboration, that she is fluent in English and Spanish and competent to translate documents from one language to the other. Under these circumstances, the conclusory certificate of translation does not contain sufficient detail concerning the extent of the associate attorney’s knowledge of the Spanish language. As such, the associate attorney’s certificate of translation was insufficient to state the associate attorney’s qualifications, rendering the plaintiff’s affidavit inadmissible (see CPLR 2101[b] …). Reyes v Underwood, 2024 NY Slip Op 05466, Second Dept 11-6-24

Practice Point: Here plaintiff’s affidavit in support of summary judgment was in Spanish. An attorney provided a “certificate of translation” which did not include sufficient detail about the attorney’s knowledge of the Spanish language. Therefore the affidavit was inadmissible.​