ROSENGARTEN v. BORN (2018)

Orders, Supreme Court, New York County (Shirley Werner Kornreich, J.), entered May 19, 2017, which, inter alia, granted plaintiffs' motion to strike defendants' pleadings, unanimously affirmed, with costs.  Orders, same court and Justice, entered September 6, 2017, which, insofar as appealed from, denied defendants' motion to renew, unanimously affirmed, with costs.

The motion court's decision to strike, based on a finding that defendants' conduct with respect to its discovery obligations was willful and contumacious and without reasonable excuse, was a proper exercise of its discretion (see e.g. Spira v. Antoine 191 A.D.2d 219, 596 N.Y.S.2d 1 [1st Dept. 1993];  CPLR 3126).  The record amply demonstrates that from the start of the discovery process defendants engaged in a pattern of willful and contumacious conduct by, inter alia, disregarding court orders despite being repeatedly warned of the ramifications of doing so, providing discovery responses that were unduly burdensome and without reviewing them, and otherwise failing to meaningfully comply with the discovery requests.

The court also properly denied defendants' motion to renew.  Even assuming that defendants asserted new facts that were not offered on the prior motion, the court providently determined that those facts would not change the prior determination (see Fulton Mkt. Retail Fish Inc. v. Todtman, Nachamie, Spizz & Johns, P.C., 158 A.D.3d 502, ––– N.Y.S.2d –––– [1st Dept. 2018];  CPLR 2221[e][2] ).

We have considered defendants' remaining contentions and find them unavailing.