Peralta v Despaigne
2004 NY Slip Op 01663 [5 AD3d 192]
March 11, 2004
Appellate Division, First Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, May 26, 2004


Juan A. Peralta et al., Respondents,
v
Michael A. Despaigne et al., Defendants, and Ahsan Ullah et al., Appellants.

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Sallie Manzanet, J.), entered on or about March 27, 2002, which directed that defendants-appellants would be deemed to have conceded liability if they failed to appear for examinations before trial, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, so as to vacate the directive deeming defendants to have conceded liability.

We find that it was an error to direct that defendants-appellants would be deemed to have conceded liability in the event that they failed to appear for examinations before trial, without a showing of willful or contumacious conduct. Concur—Buckley, P.J., Williams, Lerner and Marlow, JJ.