After NYC public school teacher Shelly Stuckhardt filed a personal-injury case against the NYC Department of Education in Queens County Civil Court, the DOE responded with a suit in Kings County Civil Court to recover $19,360.42 in salary overpayments.
When a Queens County judge denied Stuckhardt's request to consolidate the two cases and to transfer everything to Brooklyn, she appealed to the Appellate Term, Second Department.
Since it is up to the trial judge to decide whether or not a joint trial should be conducted, and because the two cases didn't involve a "common question of law or fact," the AT2 left the denial undisturbed--particularly in the absence of any proof the claims "overlapped."
Seems Shelly Stuckhardt's stuck.
To view a copy of the Appellate Term's decision, please use this link: Stuckhardt v. New York City Bd. of Educ.