| Ayangbesan v Finkelstein |
| 2021 NY Slip Op 02217 [193 AD3d 477] |
| April 8, 2021 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| Aderonke Ayangbesan, Respondent, v Seth Finkelstein, M.D., Appellant. |
Aaronson Rappaport Feinstein & Deutsch, LLP, New York (Elliott J. Zucker of counsel), for appellant.
Law Office of Thomas Torto, New York (Thomas Torto of counsel), for respondent.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Joan A. Madden, J.), entered March 4, 2020, which denied defendant's motion to sever his statute of limitations defense from plaintiff's medical malpractice claims, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
The court providently exercised its discretion in denying defendant's motion for severance. Defendant failed to show that a bifurcated trial would be either a matter of convenience or prevent prejudice so to outweigh the disfavor for severance where, as here, the issues arise from a "common nucleus of facts" (Sichel v Community Synagogue, 256 AD2d 276, 276 [1st Dept 1998]; see CPLR 603; Shanley v Callanan Indus., 54 NY2d 52, 57 [1981]). Concur—Webber, J.P., Mazzarelli, González, Mendez, JJ. [Prior Case History: 2020 NY Slip Op 30631(U).]