Alvarez v Metropolitan Transp. Co.

Alvarez v Metropolitan Transp. Co. 2011 NY Slip Op 08285 Decided on November 17, 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 November 17, 2011
Gonzalez, P.J., Tom, Catterson, Richter, Román, JJ.
6080N 300298/10

[*1]Laurie Alvarez, Plaintiff-Respondent,

v

Metropolitan Transportation Company, etc., Defendant, Liberty Lines Transit, Inc., et al., Defendants-Appellants.




Lifflander & Reich LLP, New York (Kent B. Dolan of
counsel), for appellants.
Law Offices of Ryan S. Goldstein, PLLC, Bronx (Ryan S.
Goldstein of counsel), for respondent.

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Betty Owen Stinson, J.), entered November 12, 2010, which, in an action for personal injuries, denied the motion of defendants-appellants to change venue from Bronx County to Westchester County, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

CPLR 504(1) would ordinarily place venue in Westchester County (see Powers v East Hudson Parkway Auth., 75 AD2d 776 [1980]; see also Chitayat v Princeton Restoration Corp., 289 AD2d 102 [2001]). However, when plaintiff named the Metropolitan Transportation Company as a defendant, a conflict arose between CPLR 504(1) and CPLR 505(a). Thus, the court had the discretion to choose a venue proper for at least one of the parties or claims (CPLR 502). The court did not abuse its discretion when it left venue in Bronx County, where the motor vehicle accident occurred and where defendant bus driver resides. We note that should the record develop sufficiently to establish that the Metropolitan Transportation Company was improperly named as a defendant, the remaining defendants may still move under CPLR 504(1) for a change of venue.

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

ENTERED: NOVEMBER 17, 2011

CLERK