Teitelbaum v. N. Shorelong Island Jewish Health Sys., Inc.

• Decision Date: 24 December 2014
• Citation: 123 A.D.3d 1006,2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 08980,999 N.Y.S.2d 871
• Parties: Jan Michael TEITELBAUM, appellant, v. NORTH SHORELONG ISLAND JEWISH HEALTH SYSTEM, INC., respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

123 A.D.3d 1006

999 N.Y.S.2d 871

2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 08980

Jan Michael TEITELBAUM, appellant,

v.NORTH SHORELONG ISLAND JEWISH HEALTH SYSTEM, INC., respondent.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

Dec. 24, 2014

Reversed and remitted.

Goldstein & Goldstein, P.C., Brooklyn, N.Y. (Mark I. Goldstein and Cindy A. Moonsammy), for appellant.

Santangelo, Benvenuto & Slattery (James W. Tuffin, Islandia, N.Y. of counsel), for respondent.

MASTRO, J.P., CHAMBERS, COHEN and BARROS, JJ., concur.

In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for medical malpractice, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (O'Donoghue, J.), entered October 10, 2013, which denied his motion pursuant to CPLR 3215(a) for leave to enter judgment on the issue of liability against the defendant upon its failure to appear or answer, and granted the defendant's cross motion, in effect, pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(8) to dismiss the complaint on the ground of lack of personal jurisdiction.

ORDERED that the order is reversed, on the law, with costs, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Queens County, for a hearing on, and a new determination of, the plaintiff's motion pursuant to CPLR 3215(a) for leave to enter judgment on the issue of liability against the defendant and the defendant's cross motion, in effect, pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(8) to dismiss the complaint on the ground of lack of personal jurisdiction.

In support of his motion for leave to enter a default judgment against the defendant, the plaintiff submitted, inter alia, his process server's affidavit of service, which stated that the defendant was served by personally delivering a copy of the summons and complaint to a “Mrs. Susan, Manager” at the defendant's purported address, and provided a description of that person. The process server's affidavit of service constituted prima facie evidence of proper service pursuant to CPLR 311(a)(1) ( see Rosario v. NES Med. Servs. of N.Y., P.C., 105 A.D.3d 831, 832, 963 N.Y.S.2d 295; Indymac Fed. Bank FSB v. Quattrochi, 99 A.D.3d 763, 764, 952 N.Y.S.2d 239; McIntyre v. Emanuel Church of God In Christ, Inc., 37 A.D.3d 562, 562, 830 N.Y.S.2d 261). In opposition to the plaintiff's motion and in support of its cross motion to dismiss the complaint on the ground of lack of personal jurisdiction, the defendant submitted an affidavit from the director of health information management at Long Island Jewish Medical Center (hereinafter LIJMC), attesting to the fact that the address where process was delivered was the address of LIJMC and not of the defendant, that no employee of the health information management department was authorized to accept service on behalf of the defendant, and that the director did not know the person described...