Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2008

Sommer v. Pierre

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York · Decided May 6, 2008

51 A.D.3d 464; 856 N.Y.S.2d 619

Cases that cite this one

3 later published cases cite this decision.

Castro v. Malia Realty, LLC (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2019)
Keane v. Piers (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2010)
Carpenter v. County of Essex (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2009)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

Order, Supreme Court, *465New York County (Deborah A. Kaplan, J.), entered January 17, 2008, which, to the extent appealed from, denied defendants’ motion to bifurcate the trial on issues of liability and damages, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Bifurcation is appropriate in complicated cases of liability and damages where such clarification or simplification will assist in reaching a fair and more expeditious resolution of the issues (22 NYCRR 202.42 [a]; Mazur v Mazur, 288 AD2d 945 [2001]). A ruling on such a request is a matter of discretion as to which the trial court should be afforded great deference (Johnson v Hudson Riv. Constr. Co., Inc., 13 AD3d 864 [2004]). In this case, fairness and convenience weigh in favor of a unified trial, which will serve to prevent a verdict based on undue sympathy for either party. Concur—Tom, J.P., Andrias, Nardelli and Williams, JJ.

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