By Victor M. Metsch
‘A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE’
If you are a civil litigator practicing in New York City, beware when you cross the RFK Bridge. Some significant “common” law dramatically changes about mid-way across the East River. The procedural law in the First Department (Manhattan and the Bronx) and the Second Department (Kings, Queens and Richmond) is remarkably different in several areas of routine daily practice.
A prime example is the ground rule with respect to a CPLR § 3025 (b) motion for leave to serve an amended pleading and the requirement of a so-called “affidavit of merit”.