Hon. Paul M. Hensley — Part 70 Rules

Hon. Paul M. Hensley

ACTING SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

Arthur M. Cromarty Court Complex

210 Center Drive

Riverhead, New York 11901

Chambers Telephone: (631)

852-2882

HON. ANDREW A. CRECCA SAMANTHA RAMOS, ESQ.

DISTRICT ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE PRINCIPAL LAW CLERK

LEON ADLER KATHRYN GRALTO

CHIEF CLERK SECRETARY

PART 70 RULES

The purpose of these Part 70 Rules is to provide the framework for the effective, efficient, and

expeditious management of every case and to create a shared understanding of how that goal of

the effective, efficient and expedition management of cases to reach timely conclusions will be

implemented.

All attorneys and all self-represented litigants must comply with the Rules of Professional Conduct

(22 NYCRR Part 1200.1 et seq.) and any other regulations, including the letter of

engagement rules (22 NYCRR Part 1215.0 et seq.).

All parties and counsel appearing in this Part, whether in person or virtually, must be prepared,

well-organized, punctual, and professionally attired. All parties and counsel must treat each other

with dignity and respect. All attorneys and parties appearing before the Court are expected to be

familiar with and comply with these Part 70 Rules.

Part 70 is housed in Courtroom 3 on the third floor of the Arthur M. Cromarty Court Complex,

210 Center Drive, Riverhead, New York 11901, which is the building that houses the family court

and the superior criminal court. Upon exiting the elevators, turn right and go through the doorway

between the newer and older portions of the complex to arrive at the courtroom.

When used in these rules, the term “counsel” means any attorney and any self-represented litigant.

I. APPEARANCES

A. General Rules

1. Appearances are now in person unless otherwise ordered.

2. The Part 70 Microsoft Teams link is https://notify.nycourts.gov/meet/00p51f.

3. Non-appearances are a default, and the Court will issue an order consistent with 22

NYCRR 202.27 and/or 22 NYCRR 130-2.1.

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4. All appearances are set for a time certain basis. Often, the Court is able to send a

calendar reminder to counsel which, for virtual appearances, may include the link

to use.

5. Any counsel who is in the Cromarty Court Complex on other matters before any

court that required an in person appearance on the same day as a Part 70 appearance

may request to appear in person by letter filed by NYSCEF before noon two

business days ahead of the appearance to enable the Court to evaluate the request

and determine if adequate staffing able to be arranged to accommodate an in person

appearance.

6. Counsel who appears must have (A) full settlement authority (B) the ability to reach

immediately by telephone or other method a client representative who is able to

approve a settlement and/or make counteroffers, and (C) a full working knowledge

of the case.

7. When appearing virtually, counsel must adhere to the same rules of conduct that

pertain to in person appearance, including attire, not eating, not taking telephone

calls, and using professional language and forms of address. No one may appear

from a moving vehicle, from any location where unreasonable background noise or

visual stimuli materially impair conducting the Court’s business, and/or without

being on video. The Court notes that the technology available to the Court for

conferences does not always include a camera for the Court.

B. Hearings and Trials

1. Notwithstanding the general rule of virtual appearances, unless the Court orders

otherwise, all hearings and all trials are in person.

2. All persons appearing for a hearing or trial in person must comply with all security

and public health protocols. Counsel must immediately notify the Court by letter

filed by NYSCEF is a person who is expected to appear in person is going to be

unable to appear because of illness, quarantine, or other disqualification from

entering the courthouse.

C. Attorneys of Record

1. CPLR 321 and the Rules of Professional Conduct require that before a litigant’s

status changes from represented to self-represented, a motion brought by order to

show cause must be granted. Therefore, no substitution of attorney forms that

purport to change a litigant’s status from represented by counsel to not represented

by counsel (self-represented) are effective, and any such forms are a nullity.

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2. Counsel must file a notice of appearance within two business days of being

retained.

II. CONFERENCES

All conferences will result in an order of the Court. If any counsel believes that the

order does not accurately reflect the substance of the conference, then all counsel

must file a joint letter with the Court within three business days of the order being

posted to NYSCEF.

Please see rule I (A) (6) regarding the requirements for counsel making any

appearance, including a conference appearance.

A. Early Settlement Conferences and Preliminary Conferences

1. At least five business days prior to the Early Settlement Conference, counsel must

submit a joint letter of not more than six pages setting forth all agreements

regarding the items set forth in 22 NYCRR 202.11 (i) – (iv), each party’s position

on obvious or open issues where agreement has not been reached and any additional

issues that any party wants to discuss at the Early Settlement Conference along with

agreements and/or positions regarding the additional issues.

2. In addition, the joint letter must set forth (a) when each party served any “paper

discovery” demands, including notices to produce/demands for documents,

demands for bills of particulars, notices to admit, etc.; (b) when each party any

served responses to paper discovery demands; (c) the dates of pending

examinations before trial and a list of persons anticipated to be deposed but for

whom an examination before trial is not yet scheduled; (d) if Plaintiff’s and/or

Defendant’s examination before trial has not yet been conducted, good cause why

such the party’s examination before trial has not yet been conducted (unless the

Early Settlement Conference occurs within 4 months of service of process).

B. Compliance/Status Conferences

1. If requested or ordered by the Court, then at least five business days prior to any

Compliance or Status Conference, counsel must submit a joint letter of not more

than six pages setting forth all agreements regarding the items set forth in 22

NYCRR 202.11 (i) – (iv), each party’s position on obvious or open issues where

agreement has not been reached and any additional issues that any party wants to

discuss at the Compliance/Status Conference along with agreements and/or

positions regarding the additional issues.

2. Discovery compliance and note of issue deadlines will be strictly enforced.

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C. Pre-Trial Conferences – see section IV (A)

D. Motion Conferences

1. The Court does not require pre-motion conferences. At any time, counsel may

submit any proper motion that the law or a court order does not require be preceded

by leave of the court.

2. In some instances, the Court may administratively adjourn a return date of a motion

after all papers are filed to enable the Court to hold a pre-submission conference,

the date, time, and place of which the Court will set by order.

III. MOTIONS

A. Working Copies/Courtesy Copies

The Court works from the NYSCEF filed documents, so no counsel is required to send

any working or courtesy copies of any documents to chambers.

B. Return Dates/Adjournments

1. Counsel must set the return date of all motions, regardless of case type, for a

Tuesday. The Court will administratively adjourn any motion not noticed for a

Tuesday to the first available Tuesday following the return date set in the notice of

motion, and all deadlines are adjusted based on the administratively adjourned

return date.

2. By stipulation and in strict compliance with 22 NYCRR 202.8 (e) (1), the return

date of a motion may be adjourned within the parameters set forth in that Rule of

the Chief Administrator. However, the stipulation must be filed before noon on the

Thursday immediately preceding the Tuesday return date.

3. Any other adjournment requests must be made by joint letter (see below regarding

joint letters) to comply with 22 NYCRR 202.8 (e) (2). This may be a time-sensitive

matter that requires a telephone call to chambers (see below regarding

communication with chambers).

C. Proposed Orders

The proponent of any motion or cross-motion must file a proposed order with the

motion papers. The opponent to any motion or cross-motion must file a proposed order

with the opposition papers.

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Effective as of: March 1, 2024

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D. Motion Papers

1. Consistent with 22 NYCRR 202.8 (c), affirmations and affidavits are separate from

briefs. Counsel is prohibited from including legal argument in affirmations and

affidavits. Counsel must put relevant facts in affirmations and affidavits. Counsel

must put legal argument in a brief (or memorandum of law) which may include a

“Facts” section with citations to the record.

2. A brief or memorandum of law that exceeds ten pages (excluding the caption,

signature block, and any tables of contents or authorities) must include a table of

contents setting forth the major headings in the brief or memorandum and the page

number where that section begins and a table of authorities setting forth each page

on which the cited authority appears.

3. Notices of Motion and prayers for relief must request relief with reasonable

specificity. For example, “seeking a default judgment against all non-appearing

defendants” is inadequately specific because that noticed relief requires the Court

to search the record and act as an advocate, but “seeking a default judgment against

the following non-appearing defendants . . . “ with a list of them is reasonably

specific.

4. Counsel must organize and present the facts in any affidavits and/or affirmation

and the arguments in any briefs and/or memoranda of law using some form of

outlined format that corresponds to the sequence of the prayers for relief in the

notice of motion.

5. Counsel is encouraged to cite New York cases to the official reports with a parallel

citation (including a parallel pinpoint citation for a direct quote) to New York

Supplement, and to cite all other cases to the official reporter for that jurisdiction.

If counsel cites to a case or other authority that is reported only in the New York

Law Journal and/or only in an electronic source, then counsel must append a true,

complete and correct copy of that authority to the brief or memorandum of law,

with such appendix being clearly identified and not counting against any page or

word limit.

6. Counsel is not required to hyperlink to cited authorities although doing so is

remarkably helpful for the Court.

E. Oral Argument

22 NYCRR 202.8-f governs oral argument to the extent that these Part 70 Rules do not

address oral argument, that rule controls. Unless a party requests oral argument in the

notice of motion or the Court orders it in the Court’s discretion, all motions are deemed

submitted on the return date.

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F. Motion Conference – see section II (D) above.

IV. TRIALS/HEARINGS

A. Post-Note of Issue Pre-Trial Conference/Any Pre-Hearing (including limited or framed

issue hearings) Conference

1. 10 business days before the pre-trial conference, counsel must file with the Court

with (A) one set of jointly marked pleadings and all amendments to them (subject

to the rules about joint letters); (B) each demand for and response to a bill of

particulars; (C) a list of all documentary exhibits which a party intends to introduce

at trial, pre-marked, beginning with 1 for Plaintiff and continuing with consecutive

integers thereafter and with A and continuing with letters thereafter (with the

twenty-seventh exhibit to be AA, the twenty-eight to be AB, and so on until the

fifty-third exhibit which will be BA, the fifty-fourth exhibit which will be BB, and

so on), with such list to indicate all agreements regarding the admissibility of each

documentary exhibit; (D) the party’s objection (other than foundation that the

documentary exhibit is what it purports to be and is a true and accurate copy of the

original, if applicable) to the admissibility of any exhibit of an adverse party that

the party has to admissibility; (E) a witness list of each witness that the party intends

to call at trial, reasonably identifying the witness by name and relationship to the

case, including expert witnesses with a designation of the party’s proposal for the

field of expertise that the expert witness has; (F) a proposed jury charge with

specific citations to the most recent edition of the Pattern Jury Instructions; (G) a

proposed jury verdict sheet; and (H) a joint statement (subject to the rules about

joint letters) of each party’s settlement position.

2. In respect of limited issue hearings, hearings on motions, and any other sort of

hearing, the rules set forth in paragraph 1 immediately above also apply if the Court

orders a pre-hearing conference; if the Court does not order a pre-hearing

conference, then the rules set forth in paragraph 1 immediately above apply, but the

deadline is 10 days before the hearing (unless the hearing is fewer than ten days

away, in which case, the deadline is noon on the day before the hearing).

B. Jury Trials

1. All jury and non-jury trials will begin promptly at the date and time the Court orders

and will continue day-to-day. Unless the trial date is set fewer than two months in

advance, 22 NYCRR 125.1 (g) applies to all jury trials, so no adjournments will be

granted upon the engagement of counsel.

2. Within 30 days of the conclusion of a non-jury trial, counsel must file with the

Court a settled transcript of the trial. Counsel must order the transcript before the

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trial to enable the court reporter to plan for the production of transcripts and must

confirm the order immediately after the trial. Counsel may request by joint letter

application extensions of this deadline only for extraordinary circumstances and/or

the non-receipt of the transcript within 20 days after the conclusion of the trial.

V. SPECIAL RULES FOR FORECLOSURE MATTERS

A. Referees

1. Once the Court appoints a referee, each of the parties must thereafter serve all

papers upon the referee in addition to any other service requirements.

2. All Referees must consult with and coordinate the date and time of auctions with

the Fiduciary Department of the Supreme Court and may not schedule or advertise

an auction without first having the Fiduciary Department’s approval for such date.

B. Proposed Orders of Reference

1. In addition to all other legally required matters, counsel must include in a proposed

order of reference the following language:

ORDERED that plaintiff be, and hereby is, directed to cause any proposed

judgment of foreclosure and sale to include a provision that directs the

Referee to comply with all county rules regarding surplus monies in

accordance with all Administrative Orders and other authorities including

all Suffolk County Local Rules;

2. In addition to all other legally required matters, counsel must include in a proposed

order of reference the following language: ORDERED that the Referee may take

oral testimony without an order of the Court, and shall promptly thereafter make

application for such reasonable additional fee as the Referee deems proper in light

of the additional time and effort so expended.

C. Judgments of Foreclosure and Sale

1. In the portion of the judgment of foreclosure and sale relating to costs and

disbursements, counsel must leave a blank for such amount and include in the

judgment of foreclosure and sale the following language as to each of costs and

disbursements “as taxed by the clerk and inserted herein”

2. To be awarded attorney fees in an amount of $3,000 or more, the motion papers

must, among all other requirements, demonstrate compliance with or an exception

from the rules set forth at 22 NYCRR 1215.1 et seq.

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Effective as of: March 1, 2024

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VI. GENERAL

A. Joint Letters or Other Joint Item

1. When the Court requires a joint letter or any other joint item, all counsel must be

available reasonably in advance of the Court’s or the circumstances’ deadline for

filing such letter or item and must meaningfully participate in the preparation of the

joint letter or item. If counsel violates this rule, then the author of the joint letter or

item should set forth the circumstances of the claimed violation in the joint letter

or item, and the Court will set a hearing date to determine (i) whether a violation

occurred and (ii) which party(ies) or counsel(s) against whom to impose remedies.

2. All joint letters and items must include all counsel’s input and must have all

counsel’s approval. Where approval is impossible (for example, one party’s

position is that a document is discoverable while the other party disagrees), the joint

letter or item should succinctly set forth each party’s position, which satisfies the

requirement of approval because approving an accurate statement of an adverse

party’s position is not a concession.

3. All joint letters or items must be no longer than three pages, including signature

blocks, addresses, and any footnotes. All type must be twelve-point or larger,

proportionately-spaced, serifed font (such as Times New Roman), and side and

bottom margins must be one inch.

B. E-Filing

Pursuant to the June 9, 2020 Administrative Order 121/20 of the Chief Administrator,

“in courts and case types approved for electronic filing through the New York State

Courts Electronic Filing System (NYSCEF), represented parties must commence new

matters or proceed in pending matters exclusively by electronic filing.” Therefore, all

represented parties must convert any non-electronic filing cases to e-filing immediately

using the process set forth at 22 NYCRR 202.5-b (b) (2) (iv). No motion, petition, or

other paper application to the Court will be acted upon unless the case is either not

eligible for e-filing or is already converted to e-filing.

C. Other

1. The Court may, in a specific case, order a variance from these Part 70 Rules, either

at counsel’s request or on the Court’s own discretionary determination.

2. Counsel should not fax or email chambers, except if the Court specifically

authorizes communication in that form. All correspondence and communication

should be via letter filed via NYSCEF, except for telephone calls that are absolutely

necessary either to clarify how to proceed or to alert the Court to a particularly time

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sensitive matter. Counsel must be thoroughly familiar with 22 NYCRR 100.3

regarding ex parte communication with the Court, which includes the Court

’s chambers and other staff.

3. Counsel must immediately make a proper filing if counsel settles or seeks to

withdraw any motion, action, special proceeding, or other matter pending before

the Court. The failure to comply with this rule (a) will cause the Court to devote

limited resources to an unnecessary matter and (b) prejudices the administration of

justice.

4. The Court will strictly enforce all deadlines, especially those set forth in court

orders that arise from conferences. Except in extraordinary circumstances where a

later application to extend a deadline is made, counsel must make any application

to extend a court-ordered deadline at least 15 business days before the deadline.

Counsel must set forth in the application good cause for the extension and whether

other parties consent. Consent of all counsel is relevant but not dispositive of good

cause. Consent of all counsel alone is not good cause to extend a deadline.

5. The Court will conduct hearings and make any appropriate remedial orders for

violations of these Part 70 Rules, including the failure to adhere to any deadlines.

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