In a written opinion that could have major implications for personal injury trials throughout the Second Department for years to come, a unanimous appellate panel has made clear to trial judges and personal injury lawyers that they have been operating for many years with too strong of a presumption that trials must be bifurcated, with one for liability and one for damages.

“There is little doubt but that the Bench and the Bar in the Second Department perceive that our precedent is, in contrast to the approach of the other departments, inflexibly, or nearly inflexibly, in favor of bifurcation,” the Appellate Division, Second Department wrote in a recent opinion in Manuel Castro v. Malia Realty and Target Contracting. “We stress today that the trial courts in the Second Department have the discretion to determine whether a personal injury trial should be unified or bifurcated in accordance with the standard set forth in the statewide rule.”