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HERE THE RELATION-BACK DOCTRINE APPLIED TO ALLOW ADDING A PARTY TO THE LAWSUIT AFTER THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAD RUN; CRITERIA EXPLAINED (CT APP).

The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge Rivera, reversing the Appellate Division, determined the relation-back doctrine applied to add a party to a lawsuit after the statute of limitations had run:

The relation back doctrine applies when (1) the claims arise out of the same conduct, transaction or occurrence; (2) the new party is “united in interest” with an original defendant and thus can be charged with such notice of the commencement of the action such that a court concludes that the party will not be prejudiced in defending against the action; and (3) the new party knew or should have known that, but for a mistaken omission, they would have been named in the initial pleading (see Buran v Coupal, 87 NY2d 173, 178 [1995]).

The doctrine focuses on the notice and prejudice to the added party. However, the doctrine does not apply when a plaintiff “intentionally decides not to assert a claim against a party known to be potentially liable” or when the new party was omitted “to obtain a tactical advantage in the litigation” (id. at 181). These exceptions minimize gamesmanship and manipulation of the CPLR (see id.).

Here, petitioners established that they satisfied the Buran test and that their omission of a necessary party was not a deliberate, informed litigation strategy to gain tactical advantage. The relation back doctrine applies, and petitioners’ claims against the newly added party were timely interposed under CPLR 203 (c). Matter of Nemeth v K-Tooling, 2023 NY Slip Op 05349, CtApp 10-24-23

Practice Point: If the criteria laid out in Buran, 87 NY2d 173, are met, the relation-back doctrine can be applied to allow adding a party to the lawsuit after the statute of limitations has run.

 

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