On January 6, 2025, Justice Bannon of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Abuzaid v. Almayouf, 2025 NY Slip Op. 30036(U), striking a defendant’s answer for failure to comply with a conditional discovery order, explaining:
CPLR 3126 authorizes the court to sanction a party who refuses to obey an order for disclosure or willfully fails to disclose information which the court finds ought to have been disclosed. Such sanction may include an order striking out pleadings or parts thereof, or rendering a judgment by default against the disobedient party. A failure to comply with discovery, particularly after a court order has been issued, may constitute the dilatory and obstructive, and thus contumacious, conduct warranting the striking of a pleading. The court can infer willfulness from repeated failures to comply with court orders or discovery demands without a reasonable excuse.
The plaintiff’s submissions establish, and the defendant does not dispute, that the defendant has not complied with the April Order. As noted, the April Order provided that upon any failure to comply with this order, the defendant shall be precluded from offering in her defense on any dispositive motion or at trial, any evidence not so produced, and this order shall be self-executing and will become absolute upon the plaintiff’s submission of an affirmation of non-compliance to the court. The defendant, having failed to comply, is now so precluded.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).