ANASTASIO v. PORT AUTHORITY OF NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY (2019)

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Lucindo Suarez, J.), entered April 25, 2018, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, denied defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint on forum non conveniens grounds, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff, a resident of Staten Island, properly commenced this action in the courts of this State against defendant, a resident of, among others, Bronx County (see McKinney's Uncons. Laws of N.Y. § 7106 [L. 1950, ch. 301, § 6];  see also Bacon v. Nygard, 160 A.D.3d 565, 565, 76 N.Y.S.3d 27 [1st Dept. 2018] ).  Defendant has failed to tender proof, in admissible form, that nonparties would be inconvenienced by plaintiff's prosecution of this action in New York State, and defendant's own convenience is irrelevant (see Stavredes v. United Skates of Am., 87 A.D.2d 502, 502, 447 N.Y.S.2d 478 [1st Dept. 1982] ).  “Moreover, given the relative proximity of New York and New Jersey, ․ it is not likely that [defendant] will experience any undue hardship as a result of litigating in New York” (Hall v. Camacho, 158 A.D.3d 422, 423, 67 N.Y.S.3d 814 [1st Dept. 2018] ).

Ultimately, although plaintiff's accident occurred in New Jersey, and New Jersey is an available alternate forum, the balance of equities does not lie so strongly in defendant's favor as to justify disturbing plaintiff's choice of forum (see Waterways Ltd. v. Barclays Bank PLC, 174 A.D.2d 324, 327, 571 N.Y.S.2d 208 [1st Dept. 1991] ).