BRUNO v. LAFARO (2026)

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

Monica BRUNO, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. Jeremy LAFARO et al., Defendants–Appellants.

7100

Decided: September 29, 2026

Webber, J.P., Mendez, González, Higgitt, Parker–Raso, JJ.

Golberg Segalla LLP, New York (Brandon N. Newell of counsel), for appellants. The Gewirtz Law Firm, LLP, Woodbury (Patrick J. McGrath of counsel), for respondent.

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Erik L. Gray, J.), entered on or about April 8, 2025, which, to the extent appealed from, denied defendants' motion pursuant to CPLR 510 and 511 to change the venue of the action from Bronx County to Rockland County, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Supreme Court correctly denied defendants' motion for a change of venue as defendants failed to meet their prima facie burden of establishing that defendant Lafaro did not reside in Bronx County at the time this action was commenced (see CPLR 503[a] ).

In their initial moving papers, defendants submitted only an affirmation from Lafaro stating that he resided in Rockland County at the time of commencement, which was “unsupported by documentation of such residency” (Singh v Empire Intl., Ltd., 95 AD3d 793, 793 [1st Dept 2012] ). Thus, the burden never shifted to plaintiff to produce evidence in opposition to the motion, making it unnecessary to consider the sufficiency of plaintiff's opposition (see id.).

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

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