Cdr Creances S.A.S. v. Cohen

• Decision Date: 21 May 2009
• Docket Number: 629NB.,628.,627.,629NA.,629N.,626.
• Citation: 880 N.Y.S.2d 251,62 A.D.3d 576,2009 NY Slip Op 04013
• Parties: CDR CRÉANCES S.A.S., as Successor to SOCIETE DE BANQUE OCCIDENTALE, Respondent, v. MAURICE COHEN et al., Appellants, et al., Defendants. CDR CRÉANCES S.A.S., as Successor to SOCIETE DE BANQUE OCCIDENTALE, Respondent-Appellant, v. LEON COHEN et al., Appellants, et al., Defendants.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

62 A.D.3d 576

880 N.Y.S.2d 251

2009 NY Slip Op 04013

CDR CRÉANCES S.A.S., as Successor to SOCIETE DE BANQUE OCCIDENTALE, Respondent, v. MAURICE COHEN et al., Appellants, et al., Defendants.

CDR CRÉANCES S.A.S., as Successor to SOCIETE DE BANQUE OCCIDENTALE, Respondent-Appellant, v. LEON COHEN et al., Appellants, et al., Defendants.

626.

627.

628.

629N.

629NA.

629NB.

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department.

Decided May 21, 2009.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Walter B. Tolub, J.), entered August 29, 2008, directing defendants Maraboeuf, Aich and Petetin to pay plaintiff $265,865,120.81, unanimously reversed, on the law and the facts, without costs, and vacated. Appeal from order, same court and Justice, entered August 13, 2008, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as subsumed in appeals from ensuing order and judgment. Order, same court and Justice, entered December 1, 2008, to the extent it denied the cross motions of defendants Cohen and Habib, and the subsequent motion of Maraboeuf, Aich and Petetin, to renew the August 13 order and vacate the default judgments entered against those defendants by that order, unanimously reversed, on the law and the facts, without costs, renewal granted, the answers of those parties reinstated, and the restraining orders, entered December 24, 2008, vacated. Judgments, same court and Justice, entered September 25, 2008, awarding plaintiff $268,067,132.33 and $268,067,157.33 against defendant World Business Center, inter alia, unanimously reversed, on the law

and the facts, without costs, and vacated. Appeals from orders, same court and Justice, entered January 30, 2009, which denied World Business Center's motions to renew or vacate default judgments against it by order entered August 13, 2008, unanimously dismissed, without costs. [See 2008 NY Slip Op 32352(U).]

While a court is vested with broad discretion to control its calendar and supervise disclosure in order to facilitate the resolution of cases, and the imposition of sanctions for discovery misfeasance is generally a matter best left to the trial court's discretion, the IAS court nonetheless improvidently exercised its discretion in granting default judgments against defendants-appellants. In view of the brief period between the first discovery order and the granting of the defaults (see Castillo v Garzon-Ruiz, 290 AD2d 288 [2002]), the magnitude of the judgments (New York Annual Conference of United Methodist Church v Preusch, 51 AD2d 711, 712 [1976]), and the...