STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4763
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 23, 2013
___________
Introduced by Sen. BONACIC -- (at request of the Office of Court Admin-
istration) -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be
committed to the Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to broad-
ening expert disclosure in commercial cases
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subparagraph (iii) of paragraph 1 of subdivision (d) of
2 section 3101 of the civil practice law and rules, as amended by chapter
3 184 of the laws of 1988, is amended to read as follows:
4 (iii) (A) Further disclosure concerning the expected testimony of any
5 expert may be obtained only by court order upon a showing of special
6 circumstances and subject to such restrictions as to scope and
7 provisions concerning fees and expenses as the court may deem appropri-
8 ate. However, a party, without court order, may take the testimony of a
9 person authorized to practice medicine, dentistry or podiatry who is the
10 party's treating or retained expert, as described in paragraph three of
11 subdivision (a) of this section, in which event any other party shall be
12 entitled to the full disclosure authorized by this article with respect
13 to that expert without court order.
14 (B) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, in any
15 commercial action in which the amount in controversy appears to the
16 court to be two hundred fifty thousand dollars or more, the court, with-
17 out requiring a showing of special circumstances but upon a showing by
18 any party that the need outweighs the resulting expense and delay to any
19 party, may authorize such further disclosure of an expert, including a
20 deposition, subject to such restrictions as to scope and provisions
21 concerning fees and expenses as the court may deem appropriate. For
22 purposes of this subparagraph, a "commercial action" is an action alleg-
23 ing breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, or misrepresentation
24 or other tort, arising out of, or relating to, business transactions or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10096-01-3
S. 4763 2
1 the affairs of business organizations; or involving other business
2 claims determined by the court to be commercial, but shall not include
3 personal injury, wrongful death, matrimonial, or foreclosure actions, or
4 landlord-tenant matters not involving business leases.
5 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately, and shall apply to all
6 rules or orders requiring the service of expert responses issued prior
7 to, on or after such effective date.
