Check the Rules Part V – Motion and Pre-Trial Practice in Kings County and Other Helpful Resources

February 22, 2018

For the fifth installment of this blog’s ongoing “Check the Rules” series, we feature the individual practice or part rules of the Justices of the Kings County Commercial Division, particularly those recently instituted by Hon. Sylvia G. Ash.

As hyperlinked within any number of past posts on this blog, the Commercial Division’s official webpage – which encompasses all eight of its statewide locations, including the busy metro counties of New York, Queens, and Kings – provides users with county- and judge-specific practice information, including individual rules and procedures for many of its Justices. Check the Rules

Notably, however, the link to the Kings County Commercial Division, which contains separate links to bibliographical and contact information for its two Justices, Hon. Sylvia G. Ash and Hon. Lawrence Knipel, does not link to the individual rules for either Justice. Their rules can be found elsewhere on the NYCOURTS.GOV site, specifically here (Justice Knipel) and here (Justice Ash).

A couple of Justice Ash’s new rules are worth noting, particularly with respect to motion practice and pre-trial conferencing:

Motions. Justice Ash’s motion calendar, which is designated for Wednesday mornings, consists of two separate calendars – a “general motion calendar” and, to the delight of many practitioners, an “oral argument motion calendar,” which consists only of motions that have been fully briefed and submitted to the court in hard-copy format in advance of the calendar call. As a general rule, “Justice Ash will only hear arguments on motions that are on the oral argument motion calendar.” The bifurcated nature of Justice Ash’s motion calendar – particularly the oral argument motion calendar – presumably will facilitate rulings from the bench, which litigants interested in prosecuting and defending their commercial cases expeditiously no doubt will welcome.

Pre-trial Conferences. Justice Ash’s pre-trial conference calendar, which is designated for Thursday mornings, also is two-fold in nature. At the first pre-trial conference, the court will set a “firm trial date” – generally “three to five months out” – as well as a date for the second pre-trial conference. At the second pre-trial conference, parties must submit witness lists, exhibit books, motions in limine, and pre-trial memoranda, and their failure to do so “will result in an adjournment of the second pre-trial conference as well as the trial.”

Speaking of updates and resources, the webpage for New York’s electronic filing system (NYSCEF), also frequently hyperlinked on this blog, recently was updated to include the following resources:

Forms for general use in the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Court of Claims, and Surrogate’s Court, and for specific use in particular counties;
A PDF Checker allowing practitioners to validate acceptable documents for proper e-filing on the NYSCEF system;
A statewide list of Authorized Courts and counties for e-filing;
Links to Rules and Legislation concerning e-filing, including the Electronic Filing Rules for the Appellate Division, the Uniform Rules for the Trial Courts, and related Amendments and Administrative Orders; and
Links to News & Events concerning new features and functions on the NYSCEF system, including production build notes for practitioners, clerks, and administrators alike.