COVID-19 has ushered in a new era for litigation in the Commercial Division. Here are the key developments litigants should be aware of. Remote Appearances and No Paper Copies In May 2020, e-filing in the Commercial Division resumed in earnest, with a few important differences from the status quo ante: Most, if not all, appearances in the Commercial Division are proceeding remotely via Microsoft Teams. While the Commercial Division encourages parties to conduct virtual evidentiary…

Statutes of limitation were “tolled” in New York by Executive Order No. 202.8, issued by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo on March 20, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Over the next six-and-a-half months, that toll was renewed by further executive order every 30 days until, on October 4, 2020, the Governor issued Executive Order No. 202.67, announcing that the tolling order would be extended for only one more 30-day period—“until November 3, 2020, and…

On Sunday, March 22, 2020, pursuant to Administrative Order AO/78/20 of Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks, the New York Unified Court System took the drastic step of suspending all filings (both paper and e-filing) in all but a select few types of cases in all New York Courts.  The Order provides that: …effective immediately and until further order, no papers shall be accepted for filing by a county clerk or a court in any matter…

In In re Everquote, Inc. Securities Litigation, 2019 N.Y. Slip Op. 29242, No. 651177/2019, 2019 WL 3686065 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cnty. Aug. 7, 2019), Justice Andrew Borrok of the New York County Commercial Division stayed discovery pending a motion to dismiss a federal securities class action pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “PSLRA”), diverging from the handful of state courts that have grappled with that statute’s application since the Supreme…

Pursuant to New York Civil Practice Law and Rules § 306-b, a plaintiff is required to serve a summons and complaint within 120 days of commencing an action. Although a court may grant an extension of this deadline for good cause shown or in the interests of justice, Judge Richard M. Platkin recently found that neither justified an extension of the plaintiff’s time to serve its summons and complaint in Plank, LLC v. Dutch Village,…

During her annual State of Our Judiciary speech on February 26, 2019, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore announced that the Commercial Division would be expanding to Bronx County. As stated by Chief Judge DiFiore, the expansion is “in recognition of the economic resurgence taking place in the Bronx” and “the number of commercial cases filed in Bronx Supreme Civil.” Although the change was effective on April 1, 2019, the Commercial Division has yet to announce which…

In Kyowa Seni, Co., Ltd. v. ANA Aircraft Technics, Co., Ltd., Docket No. 650589/2017, 2018 WL 3321410 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. July 5, 2018), Justice Saliann Scarpulla of the New York County Commercial Division joined in a long line of New York federal cases that have vitiated the registration theory of jurisdiction.…