Opinion
05-10-2017
CAPEZZANO CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION, appellant, v. Ellen WEINBERGER, also known as Ellen Weinberger Vera, et al., respondents.
Joseph Obermeister, Cedarhurst, N.Y. (Samuel Katz of counsel), for appellant. Alter & Barbaro, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Stephen V. Barbaro of counsel), for respondents.
Joseph Obermeister, Cedarhurst, N.Y. (Samuel Katz of counsel), for appellant.
Alter & Barbaro, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Stephen V. Barbaro of counsel), for respondents.
In an action to foreclose a mechanic's lien, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Spodek, J.), dated June 23, 2015, which granted the defendants' motion for leave to amend their answer.
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, with costs.
Leave to amend a pleading shall be freely given absent prejudice or surprise resulting directly from the delay "unless the proposed amendment is palpably insufficient or patently devoid of merit" (Lucido v. Mancuso, 49 A.D.3d 220, 222, 851 N.Y.S.2d 238 ; see CPLR 3025[b] ; McCaskey, Davies & Assoc. v. New York City Health & Hosps. Corp., 59 N.Y.2d 755, 757, 463 N.Y.S.2d 434, 450 N.E.2d 240 ; Fahey v. County of Ontario, 44 N.Y.2d 934, 935, 408 N.Y.S.2d 314, 380 N.E.2d 146 ). "The granting of such leave is committed to the sound discretion of the trial court and must be determined on a case-by-case basis" (Skinner v. Scobbo, 221 A.D.2d 334, 335, 633 N.Y.S.2d 208 ).
In this case, the Supreme Court providently exercised its discretion in granting the defendants' motion for leave to amend their answer to assert additional counterclaims against the plaintiff. The counterclaims sought to be interposed were not palpably insufficient or patently devoid of merit. In addition, the plaintiff cannot claim either prejudice or surprise as a result of the amendment.
CHAMBERS, J.P., SGROI, DUFFY and BARROS, JJ., concur.