Nunez v Ellenville Community Hosp.

Nunez v Ellenville Community Hosp. 2007 NY Slip Op 05437 [41 AD3d 293] June 21, 2007 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. As corrected through Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Joann Nunez, Appellant,
v
Ellenville Community Hospital et al., Respondents.

—[*1] Fellows, Hymowitz & Epstein, P.C., New City (Darren Jay Epstein of counsel), for appellant.

McAloon & Friedman, P.C., New York (Timothy J. O'Shaughnessy of counsel), for Ellenville Community Hospital and Robert J. Miller, M.D., respondents.

Martin Clearwater & Bell LLP, New York (Claudia J. Charles of counsel), for Walter Dobushak, D.O., respondent.

Kral, Clerkin, Redmond, Ryan, Perry & Girvan, LLP, New York (John J. Ullrich of counsel), for Veritas Villa, Inc., respondent.

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Douglas E. McKeon, J.), entered on or about January 9, 2006, which, in an action for medical malpractice, inter alia, granted defendants' motions for a change of venue from Bronx County to Ulster County, unanimously reversed, on the facts, without costs, defendants' motions denied and the action retained in Bronx County.

The court erred in finding that plaintiff was not a resident of Bronx County at the time the action was commenced (CPLR 503 [a]). The evidence established that plaintiff was a Bronx resident for most of her life. At the time of the commencement of the action, plaintiff had been living in the apartment of a friend on the understanding that she could stay there for as long as she needed to get her life back in order. The inference is inescapable that plaintiff's residency in [*2]the friend's apartment was not contrived for the sole purpose of obtaining an advantageous venue (compare Lilly v Ayoub, 260 AD2d 302 [1999], with Neu v St. John's Episcopal Hosp., 27 AD3d 538 [2006]). Concur—Andrias, J.P., Friedman, Sweeny, McGuire and Kavanagh, JJ.