29 Dec Consolidation and Change of Venue Granted! – May 2012

Martin + Colin, P.C. obtained a consolidation of two lawsuits into one and obtained a change of venue of the one remaining (consolidated) case from Kings County to Westchester County, which is a much more convenient location for our client. – May 2012

Update: The plaintiff filed a motion asking the Kings County court to reconsider its decision transferring the case to Westchester County, and upon reconsideration, the plaintiff asked the court to keep the (consolidated) cases in Brooklyn (i.e., Kings County). In a decision and order dated October 22, 2012, the Supreme Court, Kings County, denied the motion for reconsideration. Thus, the one remaining (consolidated) case remains in Westchester County.

In these cases, our client lives and works in Westchester County. She has no contacts whatsoever with Brooklyn. The plaintiff commenced two separate lawsuits against the defendant, our client, in Supreme Court, Kings County.

The attorneys at our law firm asked the court to dismiss both cases, arguing that the cases have no merit. The court denied our motion, at least for now.

Our lawyers then filed a second motion, this time asking the court to consolidate the two actions into one, and to transfer the one, consolidated lawsuit out of Brooklyn to Westchester County for pre-trial proceedings and for trial. We argued that the cases should be consolidated because the cases involved the same parties and involved similar questions of law and fact. We urged that consolidation would conserve judicial resources and prevent inconsistent rulings. The Court agreed.

In this second motion, our attorneys also asked the court to transfer the now consolidated cases to Westchester County on the ground that plaintiff was not eligible for a Kings County venue because he was not a resident of that county. Once again, the Court agreed.