COURT STRUCTURE IN NY:
· Not heavily tested—most will say, “assume the case takes place in NY.”
· Supreme Court = Court of original jurisdiction
· Court of claims act, District Court Act and NYC civil court are not in the CPLR
· In NY all civil cases are governed by the CPLR (civil practice law and rules) but CPLR 101 states that the CPLR must defer (step down) to any inconsistent statute or court rule.
o CPLR governs in the district court, UNLESS the District Court Act says something different
o Same thing with the city courts
· Many provisions in various court acts differ from the CPLR
o In NY when you are suing for personal injury/wrongful death, you do NOT put in the monetary amount
o When you sue for money damages you must go to court of claims
§ State of NY waives sovereign immunity provided that the complaint is verified.
§ Legislature amended Court of Claims Act, if you fail to put down a monetary amount, it is not a jurisdictional defect, it is a defect that is waived.
§ Court of Claims Act 29A
· All NY courts are courts of limited jx, they are restricted as to what types of cases they can hear, by the NY state constitution and by the legislature.
o A court’s subject matter jx refers to the type of case that court can hear and it speaks of its capacity to decide certain litigation.
o An objection to the court’s SMJ can be raised prior to the defendant serving an answer by making a CPLR § 3211(a)(2) motion to dismiss.
§ If the Δ neglects to make this motion, this objection can be raised at any time during the trial, or it can be raised for the first time on an appeal of the final judgment. SMJ is never waived.
§ Bar exam question: If a party makes a motion for a directed verdict (form of SJ during trial), as a matter of law—do you forfeit the right to a jury trial? NO.
SUPREME COURT:
· Contracts, Criminal Law/Crim Pro, Domestic Relations, Tort—assume here in the SC.
· Every one of the 62 counties in NY has a supreme court.
o It is a court of GENERAL jx and can award a penny or a 100 million dollars (no limit) and it has complete equity jx.
o It has jx over criminal cases under the constitution, it has concurrent jx with every other court in the state except for the Court of Claims.
o Thus, the Supreme Court could not hear a money action against the state of NY. It must dismiss that action, because it lacks SMJ to hear money actions against the state of NY.
§ Does the SC have jx over maternity proceedings in which the family court and service court have jx? YES.
§ Does the SC have SMJ to probate a will? YES…even though they would instruct you to go to the service court—they nevertheless have the CAPACITY to do so.
· The SC has exclusive SMJ over:
o 1. Matrimonial Actions (defined in CPLR 105(p)), (KNOW THIS DEFINITION FOR THE EXAM).
§ CPLR § 105(p): “Matrimonial action” includes actions for a separation, annulment or dissolution of marriage, divorce, declaration of the nullity of a void marriage, declaration of the validity or nullity of a foreign judgment of divorce and for a declaration of the validity or nullity of a marriage.
o 2. Art. 78 Special Proceedings (most frequently used to challenge the decisions of administrative agencies).
§ Exp: Fail the exam because computer malfunctions àchallenge to administrative agency w/ Art. 78.
o 3. Declaratory Judgment Actions CPLR § 3001 (Article 30—section 01)
§ Exp: Contract dispute –you sue the insurance company and you want the court to declare your rights under the contract rather than suing for money damages.
APPEALS GENERALLY:
· Appeals from the SC are taken to the appellate division
· A party has 30 days to take an appeal from either an order or a final judgment.
o The “taking” of an appeal—should not be confused with the perfection of an appeal, where the briefs and the record on appeal are filed with the appellate c
a different sum, but must conditionally order a new trial on the damages issue unless a party (a Δ) agrees to increase the amount (additur), or the Π agrees to decrease the amount (remittur).
§ Exp:Go back to the hospital nurse—the appellate division cannot just plug in a new amount—all they can do is order a new trial, which is conditional unless the plaintiff agrees to reduce the 3 million or the defendant agrees to increase it…the appellate court can set an amount that they think IS reasonable and say that a new trial shall be ordered unless Π or Δ agrees
· An appeal may be taken only from a written order or a written judgment that has been signed by the judge and entered by the clerk of the court CPLR § 2219(a), § 2220(a), § 5512(a).
· There can be no appeal from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5:
o 1. A judge’s decision (what you read in NY Law Journal)—because that is just the judge’s order—it still needs to be taken by the county clerk and stamped with the date…only then can we take an appeal—then take a copy of that order, attach that to appeal and serve it within 30 days by the attorney’s adversary
o 2. Ex parte orders CPLR § 5701—Π or Δ makes a motion and doesn’t give the other side notice of that motion—move to vacate or modify that order—only when judge denies that motion then you can make the appeal. Can’t appeal an ex parte order until the other party gets a chance to argue it
o 3. Default judgment—remedy is to move to vacate the default under CPLR § 5015—make a motion to vacate the default judgment back to the same court pneumonic device: REAM
