The Chief Administrative Judge of the Courts of New York has amended the Commercial Division rules about:

The court also adopted an optional Model Status Conference Order form.

Amendments to the eligibility criteria (22 NYCRR § 202.70(b)(12) and (c)) apply to all cases filed in the Commercial Division on or after December 1, 2015. The remaining amendments and the model status conference order are effective December 1, 2015.

The amendments to Rules 3 and 6 were announced in the New York Law Journal on November 3, 2015. The orders adopting these amendments are not yet posted to the court's website.

The Chief Administrative Judge has amended 22 NYCRR § 202.70(b)(12) and (c) relating to the eligibility requirements for cases heard in the Commercial Division. Under amended § 202.70(b)(12), arbitration proceedings heard in the Commercial Division are subject to the same monetary thresholds for the applicable county or judicial district. Arbitration proceedings heard outside the United States remain exempt from the monetary threshold requirement.

Amended § 202.70(c) makes disputes involving home improvement contracts involving single family homes or individual units in any residential building ineligible to be heard in the Commercial Division.

The Commercial Division Rules Preamble was amended to affirm that proportionality in conducting discovery is a guiding principle of the Commercial Division. The judges of the Commercial Division recognize that litigants often view discovery costs as out of proportion to the issues of the litigation and seek to reaffirm the benefits of proportionality.

Amended Commercial Division Rule 3 formally recognizes summary jury trials as an available alternative dispute resolution mechanism on the consent of the parties. A summary trial usually involves a one-day jury trial, with relaxed rules of evidence, and limited time for jury selection, opening statements, and closing arguments. There are a limited number of witnesses and the parties waive motions for directed verdict and appeals. Local rules on summary trials apply, but if there are none, the court must approve the procedures.

Under amended Commercial Division Rule 6 all electronically-submitted memorandum of law and, where appropriate, affidavits and affirmations, must include bookmarks providing a list of the contents and allowing easy navigation of the document. Bookmarking helps judges, law clerks, and litigants to review and prepare documents more efficiently.

The Chief Administrative Judge has amended Commercial Division Rule 11-d to clarify that the depositions of more than one representative of the same entity are treated as one deposition. Therefore, the depositions of all entity witnesses are cumulatively:

The Chief Administrative Judge has also adopted new Commercial Division Rule 11-f, which provides that a litigant may name a legal or commercial entity as a deponent and may set out, with "reasonable particularity," the matters on which the entity is to be deposed. If a deposition is sought under this rule, at least ten days before the deposition, the entity to be deposed must:

If a specific person of the entity is named as the deponent, and the matters for the deposition are also set out in the notice or subpoena, the named entity must produce the person named unless, at least ten days before the deposition, it:

The designated person must testify about information known or reasonably available to the entity. The rule also provides that the testimony may be used against the entity to the same extent as provided under CPLR 3117(a)(2) and the applicable rules of evidence.

This new rule is modeled on Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(6). It is intended to make entity depositions more efficient and increase the likelihood that an entity deponent has the information sought.

The Commercial Division has adopted an optional Model Status Conference Order form. The model order form tracks the forms for the Model Preliminary Conference Order and the Model Compliance Conference Order. It assumes that the parties have already completed a preliminary conference order and a compliance conference order. The Model Status Conference Order identifies the final discovery tasks that need to be completed before filing a note of issue.

The 11-page order includes sections on:

For more information on practicing in New York's Commercial Division, see Practice Note, Practicing in the Commercial Division of the New York State Supreme Court.