Stempler v Stempler

Stempler v Stempler 2011 NY Slip Op 07368 Decided on October 20, 2011 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided on October 20, 2011
Andrias, J.P., Sweeny, Moskowitz, Richter, Román, JJ.
5587N 100939/09

[*1]Randall I. Stempler, Plaintiff-Respondent,

v

Hedy Sloane Stempler, etc., et al., Defendants-Appellants, J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., Defendant.




Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., New York (Jeffrey R. Metz of
counsel), for appellants.
Gregory Danenberg, New York, for respondent.

Appeal from order, Supreme Court, New York County (Milton A. Tingling, J.), entered October 7, 2009, which denied the Stempler defendants' motion to strike the amended complaint and directed them to serve an answer within 60 days, unanimously dismissed, without costs.

The Stempler defendants' (defendants) appeal from an order that declined to require a more definitive statement in plaintiff's amended complaint was not appealable as of right (see CPLR 5701[b][2]). Defendants argued that the lengthy amended complaint was intended to harass, in that it was prolix, verbose, unnecessarily repetitious, and contained immaterial allegations. While the amended complaint arguably could have been more "plain and concise" in its terms, the causes of action were properly asserted in consecutively numbered paragraphs, and a reading of the document belies defendants' conclusory claim that the causes of action were unclear (see generally CPLR 3014). The amended complaint, as drafted, did not prejudice defendants in answering. Thus, there is no basis to find that the challenged pleading affected a substantial right that would warrant the taking of an appeal as of right (see e.g., Matter of Danzig, 96 AD2d 803, 805 [1983]).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.

ENTERED: OCTOBER 20, 2011

CLERK