30-DAY COURT-OF-APPEALS “APPEAL CLOCK” EXPLAINED IN THE CONTEXT OF ELECTRONIC FILING (CT APP).

The Court of Appeals, in determining one of the party’s appeal to the Court of Appeals was untimely, explained how the 30-day appeal clock works with electronic filing:

To be effective to start CPLR 5513 (b)’s 30-day clock, service must comply with CPLR 2103. CPLR 2103 (b) (7), in turn, empowers the Chief Administrative Judge to authorize electronic service. The Chief Administrative Judge has exercised this authority by promulgating Uniform Rules for Trial Courts (22 NYCRR) § 202.5-b (h) (2), which provides that in actions—such as this one—that are subject to electronic filing, parties may serve “notice of entry of an order” by filing “a copy of the order . . . and written notice of its entry” on its New York State Courts Electronic Filing System (NYSCEF) site, thus causing that site to transmit “notification of receipt of the documents, which shall constitute service thereof by the filer” (see also 22 NYCRR 202.5-bb [a] [1] [making section 202.5-b applicable to all electronic filing cases]). The relevant rules are not limited to service of trial court orders; and they neither prohibit nor render ineffective service of an intermediate appellate court order with notice of its entry by filing on the trial court’s NYSCEF docket—as opposed to the NYSCEF docket of the intermediate appellate court (see generally CPLR 2103 [b] [7]; 5513 [b]; 22 NYCRR 202.5-b—202.5-bb). Thus, in an electronic filing case, service via filing on the NYSCEF docket for the trial court is effective to start CPLR 5513 (b)’s 30-day clock.

Here, plaintiffs moved for leave to appeal before this Court 31 days after defendant Structure Tone Inc. (Structure Tone) served plaintiffs by filing on the trial court’s NYSCEF docket. Plaintiffs’ motion to this Court was therefore untimely as to Structure Tone and, consequently, the portion of the motion to dismiss the appeal as against Structure Tone should be granted … . However, as to defendants 200 Park, LP (200 Park), Tishman Speyer Properties, L.P. (Tishman), and CBRE, Inc. (CBRE), the motion was timely. Ruisech v Structure Tone Inc., 2024 NY Slip Op 05866, CtApp 11-25-24

Practice Point: Here the 30-day period for taking an appeal to the Court of Appeals, in the context of electronic filing, is explained.