Opinion
June 24, 1991
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Kings County (Rigler, J.).
Ordered that the order is modified, by deleting the first decretal paragraph thereof, and substituting therefor a provision providing that the attorney for the defendant David K. Wilson, Anis A. Siddiqi, shall pay the sum of $3,000 to the attorney for the plaintiff, James Hartmann, as and for the plaintiff's counsel fees; as so modified, the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs to the plaintiff; the time for Anis A. Siddiqi to pay the $3,000 is extended until 30 days after service upon him of a copy of this decision and order, with notice of entry.
The Supreme Court did not improvidently exercise its discretion by issuing a conditional order striking the appellant's answer in the event he should fail within 45 days to furnish a previously court-ordered accounting (see, Adinolfi v Adinolfi, 168 A.D.2d 401; Unity Mfg. Corp. v St. Paul Fire Mar. Ins. Co., 97 A.D.2d 462). In addition, the imposition of a monetary sanction, in the form of an award of counsel fees, was appropriate (see, Demis v Demis, 168 A.D.2d 840; Keingarsky v Keingarsky, 145 A.D.2d 537). However, under the circumstances, the sanction should be paid by the appellant's counsel, and the order has been modified accordingly. Kooper, J.P., Sullivan, Lawrence and Rosenblatt, JJ., concur.