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Dern v Kametler
2006 NY Slip Op 50542(U) [11 Misc 3d 138(A)]
Decided on April 4, 2006
Appellate Term, First Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.


Decided on April 4, 2006
APPELLATE TERM OF THE SUPREME COURT, FIRST DEPARTMENT

PRESENT: Gangel-Jacob, J.P., Schoenfeld, J.
570594/04.

Gordon Dern and Norman Dell, a/k/a Norman Dern, Plaintiffs-Respondents,

against

James Kametler, Pamela Kametler and Carol Meyer, Defendants-Appellants.


Defendants appeal from an order of the Civil Court, New York County (Donna G. Recant, J.), entered January 30, 2004, which inter alia, granted plaintiffs' cross motion to strike the defendants' answer to the extent of precluding defendants from testifying at trial unless they appeared for a deposition within a specified time, and directed defense counsel to pay $500 in costs to plaintiffs' attorney.


PER CURIAM:

Order (Donna G. Recant, J.), entered January 30, 2004, modified to vacate the award of costs; as modified, order affirmed, without costs.

Imposition of sanctions for discovery defaults is a matter best left to the trial court's discretion (see Ulico Cas. Co.v Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker, 1 AD3d 223 [2003]), and the court's issuance of a conditional preclusion order was an appropriate sanction in the circumstances of this case. However, no basis was shown or reason given for the imposition of costs (see CPLR 8106) in connection with defendants' summary judgment motion.
This constitutes the decision and order of the Court.
Decision Date: April 4, 2006