Brodmerkel v James McCullagh Co., Inc.

Brodmerkel v James McCullagh Co., Inc. 2007 NY Slip Op 10513 [46 AD3d 853] December 26, 2007 Appellate Division, Second Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. As corrected through Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Douglas Brodmerkel, Respondent,
v
James McCullagh Co., Inc., et al., Appellants.

—[*1] Holland & Knight LLP, New York, N.Y. (Frederick D. Braid and Howard Sokol of counsel), for appellant James McCullagh Co., Inc.

Jackson Lewis LLP, Melville, N.Y. (Wendy J. Mellk and David R. Ehrlich of counsel), for appellants John P. Picone, Inc., and John P. Picone.

Stanley N. Futterman, New York, N.Y., for respondent.

In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for unlawful termination of employment in violation of Labor Law § 740, the defendant James McCullagh Co., Inc., appeals, and the defendants John P. Picone, Inc., and John P. Picone separately appeal, from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Kurtz, J.), dated May 2, 2006, which granted the plaintiff's motion to restore the action to the trial calendar.

Ordered that the order is reversed, on the law and in the exercise of discretion, with one bill of costs to the appellants appearing separately and filing separate briefs, and the motion is denied.

"The conclusory, undetailed, and uncorroborated claim of law office failure set forth by the plaintiffs in this case does not amount to a reasonable excuse" (Lugauer v Forest City Ratner Co., 44 AD3d 829 [2007]). Accordingly, the Supreme Court improvidently exercised its discretion in granting the plaintiff's motion to restore the action to the trial calendar. Spolzino, J.P., Krausman, Fisher and Angiolillo, JJ., concur.