New York Law Review

Park East Corp. v. Travelers Ins. Co., 40 N.Y.2d 559 (1976): Calculating Appeal Deadlines After Denial of Leave

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Park East Corp. v. Travelers Ins. Co., 40 N.Y.2d 559 (1976)

CPLR 5514(a), concerning the time to take an alternative appeal after a denial of leave to appeal, is interpreted to require computation of the time allowed to begin upon service of a copy of the order terminating the first attempted appeal with written notice of its entry, aligning it with CPLR 5513.

Summary

Park East Corp. filed a notice of appeal 36 days after the Appellate Division denied leave to appeal, but within 30 days of being served with the order denying leave along with written notice of entry. The Court of Appeals addressed whether the appeal was timely under CPLR 5514(a). Despite the statute’s literal wording suggesting the appeal time begins from the denial date, the Court held that the time to appeal begins upon service of the order denying leave with written notice of entry. This interpretation aligns with CPLR 5513 and avoids procedural traps for litigants.

Facts

Park East Corp. attempted to appeal a lower court decision. After the Appellate Division denied leave to appeal, Park East Corp. filed a notice of appeal 36 days after the denial date. The notice of appeal was, however, filed within 30 days after Park East Corp. was served with a copy of the order denying leave, including written notice of its entry.

Procedural History

The case reached the New York Court of Appeals after the Appellate Division denied leave to appeal. The specific procedural history prior to the Appellate Division’s decision is not detailed in the provided text. The motion before the Court of Appeals was to dismiss the appeal as untimely.

Issue(s)

  1. Whether, under CPLR 5514(a), the time to file an alternative appeal after denial of leave to appeal begins to run from the date of the denial or from the date of service of the order denying leave with written notice of entry?
  2. Whether the order being appealed from is final and reviewable?

Holding

  1. No, because the Court interprets CPLR 5514(a) to align with CPLR 5513, requiring the time to appeal to be computed from the service of the order denying leave with written notice of entry.
  2. Yes, the order appealed from is final and reviewable.

Court’s Reasoning

The Court reasoned that a literal, out-of-context reading of CPLR 5514(a) would suggest the appeal time begins on the denial date. However, the Court chose to interpret CPLR 5514(a) in harmony with CPLR 5513, which governs other appeal time limitations and explicitly requires service of the order with written notice of entry to trigger the appeal period. The Court stated that this interpretation “evidently conforms to the intention of the Legislature and harmonizes this statute’s requirements with those of CPLR 5513.” The Court also noted this approach aligns with the Judicial Conference CPLR Advisory Committee’s recommendations. Furthermore, the Court emphasized the practical benefits of this interpretation: “this achieves a uniform rule governing commencement of time requirements affecting appeals and it eliminates unnecessary procedural traps for the unwary while simultaneously insuring notification of termination of the first appeal attempt.” The Court explicitly disagreed with Dayon v Downe Communications, which likely held a contrary view. The Court concluded that the order appealed from was final and reviewable, although the reasoning for this determination is not elaborated upon in the memorandum.

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