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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Clerk’s Bad Advice Isn’t a Valid Excuse, Court Says

NEW YORK (CN) - The New York Appellate Division rejected a plaintiff's claim that he missed a filing deadline because the case was still in discovery, and a law clerk had told him the deadline was not mandatory.

"Even if the incomplete nature of pretrial discovery might have constituted a reasonable excuse," the appellate judges wrote, "we note that reliance on a law clerk's view that the relevant deadlines were not 'mandatory' is not reasonable."

Joseph Frazzetta filed the lawsuit against P.C. Celano Contracting, which later went bankrupt. The Suffolk County court ruled that Frazzetta needed to file a notice of issue by June 9, 2006.

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