The Appellate Division unanimously affirmed the Orders which denied defendants' motions to dismiss the complaint or preclude plaintiff from offering evidence at trial for failure to comply with discovery orders. The court was not bound by a prior order that warned that failure to comply would be construed as willful and contumacious but was not a conditional order that would have obviated the need for a determination of willfulness. Further, the history of this litigation establishes that any non-compliance on plaintiff's part was not willful, contumacious, or in bad faith. More often than not, plaintiff complied with the court's discovery orders by providing timely responses that generally evidenced a good-faith effort to address outstanding discovery meaningfully.
Lyoussi v. Etufugh, NY Slip Op 06956 (1st Dep't November 24, 2020)
