A Brooklyn appellate panel yesterday sent a sharp reminder to the trial bar and trial judges: Discovery abuses “cannot and will not be tolerated in our courts,” even if it means holding litigants responsible for the shortcomings of their lawyers.
The Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed a trial judge and said a Long Island law firm’s “intentionally false and misleading” responses to discovery demands were not cured by belated disclosure. The ruling bars the defendant in a motor vehicle accident case from calling several key eyewitnesses and an expert witness or from introducing post-crash photographs and videos.
