On March 09, 2010 a
Letter,Correspondence
was filed
involving a dispute between
Kuplesky, Harold, Individually And On Behalf Of Starrett City Preservation Llc, Derivatively,
Rudman, Harvey, Individually And On Behalf Of Starrett City Preservation Llc, Derivatively,
and
Carol Gram Deane,
Dd Shopping Center Llc,
Dd Spring Creek Llc,
Disque D. Deane,
Salt Kettle Llc,
Sk Shopping Center Llc,
Sk Spring Creek Llc,
Spring Creek Plaza Llc,
Starrett City Preservation Llc,
St. Gervais Llc,
for Commercial Division
in the District Court of New York County.
Preview
GOLENBOCK EISEMAN
Attorneys at Law 1 437 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10022-7020
ASSOR BELL & PESKOE«P T (212) 907-7300 I F (212) 754-0330 I www.golenbock.com
D/RECT D/ALNo.: !2 / 2l 907-739 /
DiFZECr Fax No.: (2 / 2) 754-0330
EMA/L ADDRESS: ✓VEIT~GDLENHOCK.COM
March 4, 2013
Efile and Hand Delivery
Hon. Shirley Werner Kornreich
Supreme Court of the State of New York
60 Centre Street, Rm. 418
New York, New York 10007
Re: Rudman, et al., v. Deane, et al.
(N.Y. Supreme, Index No. 650159_/2010)
Dear Justice Kornreich:
We are counsel to plaintiffs in the above-referenced action. We write in response to the
letter to the Court from defense counsel Kenneth Warner, efiled on Friday, March 1, 2013. Mr.
Warner contends that the status of Plaintiff's pending motion to compel is important "because if
granted it could affect the summary judgment submission schedule, since post-Note of Issue
summary judgment motions are supposed to be filed after discovery is closed."
We disagree with Mr. Warner's position that the outcome of the motion to compel may
impact the summary judgment motion schedule. The Court and the parties have moved forward
with the required filing of the Note of Issue (NOI) and with the scheduling and preparation of
summary judgment motions for months notwithstanding their knowledge of the pendency of the
motion. As an example, although the motion to compel was argued in September 2012 and had
not yet been decided, by Order dated November 7, 2012, the Court ordered plaintiffs to file the
NOI by November 30, 2012. Plaintiffs filed the NOI on November 20, and the parties then
appeared for a conference on November 29, 2012. At that conference, the fact that the motion to
compel was still pending was expressly discussed in the context of when summary judgment
motions were due, and the Court Attorney scheduled the summary judgment motion for 60 days
after the Note of Issue, which was January 22, 2013.
Thereafter, conferences were held and the summary judgment schedule was extended to
accommodate Defendants' counsel's travel and other work obligations. Following a telephonic
conference held on January 8, 2013, the filing of the summary judgment motions was adjourned
from January 22 to February 28, the date requested by Defendants. Again, although the motion
17271711
GOLENBOCK EISEMAN
ASSOR BELL & PESKOE«P
Hon. Shirley Werner Kornreich
March 4, 2013
Page 2
to compel was still pending, there was agreement among the parties and the Court that the
summary judgment schedule would proceed. The schedule was again extended on consent
during the most recent telephonic conference, as reflected in the Court's February 25, 2013
order.
Further, as we have stated to the Court and our adversaries on several occasions, the
discovery at issue in the motion to compel is unrelated to the matters that will be at issue in the
summary judgment motions. The pending motion relates to documents concerning, and
testimony of, defendants' accountant in and after 2010 which were withheld as privileged on the
grounds that defendants also retained such accountants as their litigation consultant. The
accountant's knowledge and testimony is not relevant to any party's anticipated summary
judgment motion; Defendants have never disagreed with that statement.
This case has been pending since 2010. We submit that there is no reason to derail the
filing of the summary judgment motions, regardless of the outcome of the motion to compel.
Respectfully, ~~'f M1 ~``
~'~ ~"
Jacqueline G. Veit
cc: Kenneth Warner, Esq.
Richard Greenberg, Esq.
Peter Wang, Esq.
17271711
Document Filed Date
March 04, 2013
Case Filing Date
March 09, 2010
Category
Commercial Division
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