Daylight Savings Time March 13

The time when we advance the time one hour to enjoy more daylight as spring emerges.  I usually set my clocks ahead on the Friday night before the weekend starts to get some adjustment started.  Below are some suggestions from the Cleveland Clinic.

1. Start preparing a few days early. About a week before “springing forward,” Dr. Walia recommends that you start going to bed 15 to 30 minutes earlier than your usual bedtime. Your body needs that bit of extra time to make up for the lost hour.
2. Stick to your schedule. Be consistent with eating, social, bed and exercise times during the transition to Daylight Saving Time. Exposing yourself to the bright light in the morning will also help you adjust, Dr. Walia says.
3. Don’t take long naps. Shutting your eyes mid-day is tempting, especially if you’re feeling sluggish. But avoiding naps is key for adjusting to the time change, as long daytime naps could make it harder for you to get a full night’s sleep. “If you have to take them, take them early and for no longer than 20 minutes,” Dr. Walia says.
4. Avoid coffee and alcohol. Put down coffee and caffeinated beverages four to six hours before bedtime. Alcohol also prohibits you from getting quality sleep, so avoid it late at night.

Remote Notarization in New York State

UPDATE: By Executive Order 202.60 dated September 4, 2020, Governor Cuomo has further extended his prior orders permitting the use of audio-visual technology for notarization and witnessing, as provided below, through October 4, 2020. Specifically, the Governor stated, “I hereby continue the declaration of the State Disaster Emergency effective March 7, 2020, as set forth in Executive Order 202.” Executive Orders 202.13, 202.14, 202.18, 202.28, 202.38, 202.48, and 202.55 previously extended the expiration dates for the applicable Orders described below.

22 NYCRR 202.17 Revisited

Just a brief update to begin revisiting my interest in blogging and in particular with regards to sharing experiences in civil litigation.  Recently I was confronted with an adversary who vehemently denied any duty to disclose the treating and/or examining medical providers in a bodily injury suit any more than thirty days before trial pursuant to CPLR 3101(d)(1)(i).  However, in Hamilton v. Miller, et al., (23 NY3d 592 [2014] the the Court of Appeals clarified the interplay between the Civil Practice Law & Rules and the Uniform Rules to the extent that the narrative reports by the treating and/or examining medical providers setting forth the injuries alleged, diagnostic testing that will be introduced at trial, and prognosis must be disclosed no fewer than 20 days before the independence physical examination to be held upon notice by the adverse party pursuant to CPLR 3121.  The judge’s law secretary entered the pertinent operative language from section 202.17 into the order and the dispute was resolved in the client’s favor.  So-Ordered.  

Form of Papers, Supreme Court, Kings County, Uniform Civil Term Rules

I was reviewing written submissions and waiting for the second call of the motion calendar on a multi-party Labor Law Article 7 and 10 suit that the firm was defending in Supreme Court, Kings County, IAS Part 41, when the attorney representing a third-party defendant returned to the bench seating in a particular fit of pique.  She exhorted that she had just schlepped back from - "you know, that room across from CCP where you go to file an Order to Show Cause" and the clerk had refused to accept the OTSC because it was not prepared with protruding exhibit tabs.  "Could you imagine?!?"  Furthermore, the attorney was more haughty that the clerk wouldn't provide any latitude on what was a manifestly picayune insistence on a trivial matter.  Right? 

 

Entirely to the contrary, it is rudimentary that the offending papers should never have been prepared as such or left the attorney's office in that condition on an ill-fated journey from Long Island to the Kings County Supreme Court.  CPLR 2101 provides the requirement for the form of papers and must also be read in conjunction with the Local Rules for the particular judicial district and county.  Kings County Supreme Court Uniform Civil Term Rules, Part A, provide in pertinent part that:   Motions, orders and other filed papers shall be indexed with protruding tabs. Clerks are required (emphasis mine) to reject papers that do not have protruding exhibit tabs, except papers in matrimonial cases and papers filed by pro se litigants.  The rule notwithstanding, it should seem patently obvious to the movant that, if that party indeed has the proof annexed to the application to warrant the adverse party to show cause why the application should not be granted, such proof should be indexed and easily identified with protruding tabs.     

Attorney Secure Pass Online Renewal

Since October 22, 2001, attorneys entering many facilities of the state court system have been required to pass through magnetometers as well as x-ray examination of any briefcases, bags, boxes or other containers.  In April 2002, the New York State Unified Court System began issuing an attorney identification card known as the "Secure Pass."  The Secure Pass permits attorneys to bypass the aforementioned security measures in certain state courts while a high level of court security is maintained.  Accordingly, the Secure Pass provides convenience to attorneys who may be entering the facilities on a daily basis while additionally reducing the burden on the state court officers.  Although based upon experience there are exceptions where the Secure Pass is not honored and the attorney must be subject to search such as in the federal courts, New York County Surrogate's Court, and the Appellate Divisions for the First and Second Departments.

 

Secure Pass cards were previously valid for two years and are now valid for five years.  The procedure for renewal has also been amended to permit electronic filing effective July 1, 2015.  Attorneys may now renew their Secure Pass through the state Unified Court System web site.  Further instructions and information can be found at http://www.nycourts.gov/attorneys/registration/securepass.shtml

Kings County Supreme Court CCP

The Centralized Compliance Part (CCP) of the Supreme Court, Kings County is where all civil litigation must pass.  Case conferences as well as discovery motions are heard in the Part which makes for two lengthy calendars, a crowded courtroom, and sometimes orders that are not issued until afternoon.  The mandatory calendar call is not held until 10:45, and the default calendar at 11:45.  If the parties cannot resolve a discovery dispute among themselves the matter will be heard by a court attorney referee who will ultimately refer the matter to the Individual Assignment Part judge if a resolution cannot be mediated.  In the event that the matter is referred to the IAS Part, it is unlikely that it will be heard and decided that day but will instead be sua sponte scheduled for an available return date in accordance with the given IAS Part calendar.      

The link to the Kings County Supreme Court, Civil Term Rules is provided below.  The rules for CCP are found within section E. 

https://www.nycourts.gov/courts/2jd/kings/civil/KingsCivilSupremeRules.shtml#CCP

      

Daylight Savings Time Ends

On Sunday, November 1, at 2:00 a.m., the clocks are turned back one hour for the end of Daylight Savings Time (DST).  However, there's rumored to be a movement gaining momentum within the legal profession to have DST end at 5:00 p.m., on the preceding Friday.  As with all things constructed by attorneys, there's a logical reason for this cause.  Having DST end during a workday would of course result in a gain of one billable hour; and, perhaps once and for all irrefutably prove to clients beyond a reasonable doubt that it is in fact possible for an attorney to verifiably bill 25 hours in one day. 😏