DISCOVERY AND EBT’S – ONLY WHEN MATERIAL AND NECESSARY

DISCOVERY AND EBT’S – ONLY WHEN MATERIAL AND NECESSARY

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. RLC Medical, P.C., et al., 2017 N.Y. Slip Op. 03979
Insurance company commenced a DJ action against, among others, the defendant estate seeking a judgment declaring that the plaintiff has no obligation to pay nofault claims for medical services purportedly rendered by the decedent.  The Supreme Court, inter directed that the administrator appear for a deposition. The defendants appealed from that portion of the order.
The Appellate Division stated:
CPLR 3101 (a) (1) provides that “[t]here shall be full disclosure of all matter material and necessary in the prosecution or defense of an action.” The terms “material and necessary” in this statute “must “be interpreted liberally to require disclosure, upon request, of any facts bearing on the controversy which will assist preparation for trial by sharpening the issues and reducing delay and prolixity’ ” (Matter of Kapon v Koch, 23 NY3d 32, 38 [2014], quoting Allen v Crowell-Collier Publ. Co., 21 NY2d 403, 406 [1968]; see D’Alessandro v Nassau Health Care Corp., 137 AD3d 1195, 1196 [2016]). “At the same time, a party is “not entitled to unlimited, uncontrolled, unfettered disclosure’ ” (D’Alessandro v Nassau Health Care Corp., 137 AD3d at 1196, quoting Geffner v Mercy Med. Ctr., 83 AD3d 998, 998 [2011]). “ “It is incumbent on the party seeking disclosure to demonstrate that the method of discovery sought will result in the disclosure of relevant evidence or is reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of information bearing on the claims’ ” (D’Alessandro v Nassau Health Care Corp., 137 AD3d at 1196, quoting **2 Crazytown Furniture v Brooklyn Union Gas Co., 150 AD2d 420, 421 [1989]). Here, the plaintiff made no showing that conducting the deposition of the administrator will result in the disclosure of relevant evidence or is reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of information bearing on the claims (see Black v Budget Rent A Car Corp., 224 AD2d 350 [1996]; Crazytown Furniture v Brooklyn Union Gas Co., 150 AD2d at 421).

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