Discovery Part Rules 2jd

HONORABLE LEON RUCHELSMAN, Presiding
All inquiries (including calendar, clerk marking inquires, processing of orders) must be directed to the respective part clerk.

PC / Intake: (347) 296-1592; [email protected]
Compliance Conference Part (CCP): (347) 296-1626; [email protected]
Final Conference Part (FCP): (347) 401-9054; [email protected]
City / TA Discovery (CDP): (347) 401-9264; [email protected]

General Discovery Rules

Updated: November 4, 2022

This court shall send notices, alerts, and schedule some virtual appearances via E-file and regular clerk systems. Please ensure that your appearance alert system (e-law, e-courts, etc.) is working properly and is current and correct and that all of your E-file contact information (including email) is current and correct.

The New York State Unified Court System has adopted Microsoft Teams as the standard for internal and external videoconferencing calls, including virtual court hearings.

Preliminary Conference (PC) Rules

Updated: November 4, 2022

The filing/purchasing of an RJI will automatically prompt the scheduling of a preliminary conference. NO APPEARANCE REQUIRED.
Preliminary conference orders are being generated and issued by the court. The signed and entered orders will be uploaded to E-File/County Clerk Minutes. NO APPEARANCE REQUIRED.
The attorneys shall, in the first instance, attempt to reach an agreement on all relevant discovery. Disputed matters will be adjudicated by the Court.
The parties must be prepared with bills of particulars, medical reports, and insurance coverage.
Strict compliance with the PC order shall be enforced by the imposition of costs and sanctions when appropriate.
Discovery in third party and joint actions will be expedited.

Central Compliance Part (CCP) Rules

Updated: February 7, 2024
Effective: February 20, 2024

Courtroom 282

Compliance Conferences

Parties with a scheduled Compliance Conference must either:

Submit an order on consent of all parties by 3:00pm two days before the conference, or
Appear in person at the conference.

Appearing parties may participate in the Compliance Conference. If a consent order is not submitted and no party appears at the conference, the action shall be marked Administratively Dismissed on default.

***NO ADJOURNMENTS EXCEPT WITH GOOD CAUSE SHOWN***

The purpose of the compliance conference is to monitor the progress of discovery, set a deadline for filing a Note of Issue, and resolve any outstanding discovery issues. Consequently, parties attending the compliance conference must be fully familiar with the case, the status of any disclosure proceedings, and any settlement negotiations.
Appearance at the compliance conference is not necessary if a Note of Issue has been served and filed with the court prior to the compliance conference date. In such cases, a copy of the Note of Issue may be presented to the CCP clerk on or before the date of the conference or a party may notify the CCP clerk prior thereto.
There will be no adjournments of a scheduled compliance conference except in special circumstances.
Compliance conference forms are available online and may be completed when all parties are ready.

Motions

All motions are on submission, except those wherein a request has been submitted for oral argument via NYSCEF. Requests for oral arguments must be submitted at least five days prior to the scheduled return date.

Court Room opens at 9:30am – Cases before calendar call will be called as soon as they are ready.

Calendar Call: 10:15am
Default Call: 11:00am

Motions that seek only discovery-related relief are scheduled in the Centralized Compliance Part by the E-file / Motion Support Office, on the date the motion is scheduled to be heard, regardless of judicial assignment. Attorneys are advised to consult, inter alia, the New York Law Journal or the Unified Court System's Future Court Appearance Website for the return dates.

Hard copies are required to be filed for any non e-filed motions, answering papers, stipulations, etc.
Motions must be accompanied by an affirmation of good faith pursuant to NYCRR 202.7(a), indicating what efforts have been made to resolve the motion.

Orders

Any order granted on default must be served on all defaulting parties within seven (7) days of the order.
If all parties served with the motion are in accordance, they may enter into a consent order. If a new Note of Issue date is required, the order should be filled out and signed by all parties leaving a space for the Note of Issue filing date to be entered by a court attorney. Order should include all outstanding discovery or indicate that discovery is complete. Consent orders are not effective or allowed to be copied until they have been reviewed by a court attorney and signed by Judge or JHO.
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED: E-file proposed CCP OSC/motions orders resolved on consent (or withdrawals) at least two days prior to your scheduled return date to avoid your CCP motion/OSC being submitted.
All correctly submitted (E-file) consent orders shall be reviewed, signed, and processed ASAP. Use applicable court form and detail and include all outstanding discovery with proposed on or before certain dates.

Adjournment of Motions

Motions are heard on the return date and are only adjourned upon good cause. Applications for adjournment on consent of all parties shall be heard by the court attorneys.
- There shall be no extension of time for filing summary judgment motions after the Note of Issue, except upon application to the Court at the IAS Part not CCP.

STIPULATIONS

An extension of the note of issue will be permitted in the first instance by stipulation. All subsequent requests must be made by motion. Stipulations must include a detailed list of all outstanding discovery and the completion dates of each outstanding item. Please do not insert a new note of issue date - that space should be left blank for the court to insert the date. Stipulations that fail to meet the above requirements will be rejected.

Stipulations to extend the summary judgment date WILL NOT be accepted by the court.

Note of Issue-Final Conference Part (NI-FCP) Rules

Updated: October 28, 2024
Effective: January 6, 2025

Courtroom 282

Note of Issue Final Conferences

Parties with a Note of Issue Final Conference must either:

Submit an order on consent of all parties by 3:00pm two days before the conference, or
Appear in person at the conference.

Appearing parties may participate in the Final Conference. If a consent order is not submitted and neither party appears, the action shall be marked Administratively Dismissed on default. If plaintiff appears and there is no defendant, an order will be done on default. If defendant appears and plaintiff does not, the action shall be marked Administratively Dismissed on default.

Final Conferences are scheduled six weeks before the NOI due date. Discovery orders must schedule all outstanding discovery to be completed prior to the NOI due date.

***Note of Issues will not be extended at the Note of Issue Final Conference unless GOOD CAUSE SHOWN***

***NO ADJOURNMENTS EXCEPT WITH GOOD CAUSE SHOWN***

The purpose of the final conference is to monitor the progress of discovery, set and resolve any outstanding discovery issues. Consequently, parties attending the final conference must be fully familiar with the case, the status of any disclosure proceedings, and any settlement negotiations.
Appearance at the final conference is not necessary if a Note of Issue has been served and filed with the court prior to the final conference date. In such cases, a copy of the Note of Issue may be presented to the FCP clerk on or before the date of the conference or a party may notify the FCP clerk prior thereto.
There will be no adjournments of a scheduled final conference except in special circumstances.
Final Note of Issue forms are available online and may be completed when all parties are ready.

City / TA Discovery Part (CDP) Rules

Updated: March 17, 2025

ONLY COURT APPROVED IN-PERSON APPEARANCES AT THIS TIME.

Use applicable court form and detail and include all outstanding discovery with proposed on or before certain dates.
All parties that cannot submit a proposed order on consent, shall submit (E-file) a request for virtual conference form, or a request for in-person conference form (for CDP scheduled appearances only) and wait to be notified.

NOTICE:
Effective September 6, 2022, parties on pending City Discovery Motions, including those that have been previously adjourned shall, no later than 2 days prior to the next scheduled calendar date, either (1) submit a proposed order - - on consent of all parties - - that resolves the pending motion, or (2) submit a Virtual Conference Request - - on consent of all parties - - to request a conference of the motion with a Court Attorney/Referee.
Upon the failure to either submit a proposed order or virtual conference request, the Court shall decide the pending motion, on submission, on the return date.

UPDATED COURT FORMS:

CCP Motion Order - FILLABLE

CCP Motion Order

Central Compliance Conference Order - FILLABLE

Central Compliance Conference Order

City TA Compliance Conference Order

City TA Motion Order

Discovery Stay Order due to death of a party, incapacity of a party, military service of a party or any other statutory reason

Final Conference Part Discovery Complete File Note of Issue

Note of Issue Final Conference Part Order - FILLABLE

Note of Issue Final Conference Part Order

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