WAITED TOO LONG TO GET SOCIAL MEDIA INFO
Some six months after a personal injury case was marked ready for trial -- i.e., after a “note of issue” was filed -- the plaintiff was served with a “notice to admit,” wherein the defendant asked the plaintiff “to admit or deny whether the appended photos were a ‘fair and/or correct representation’ of screen shots” taken from various social media accounts.
After the plaintiff’s request for an order of protection was denied by the New York County Supreme Court, he appealed. And, on its review, the Appellate Division, First Department, noted that the notice in question was “improperly being used as a disclosure device,” since it was requesting information that should have been sought earlier in the process (when discovery was underway).
In the absence of “unusual or unanticipated circumstances” which would have warranted allowing discovery at that late stage, the AD1 reversed the underlying determination and granted relief in the plaintiff’s favor.
That was truly striking.
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DECISION