BILL NUMBER: S8071A
SPONSOR: ADDABBO
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to enact-
ing the "avoiding vexatious overuse of impleading to delay (AVOID) act"
 
PURPOSE:
This bill establishes time limits in a civil action as to when defend-
ants must implead so-called "third-party defendants" into the action
that may be in whole or in part liable to them for the plaintiff's
claim, and as to when those third-party defendants must implead subse-
quent third-party defendants. The time limits ensure that defendants and
third-party defendants implead all necessary parties within a year of
the filing of the action and prevent defendant from deliberately post-
poning the impleading of known or identifiable parties to delay the
litigation.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill entitles the bill the Avoiding Vexatious Overuse
of Impleading to Delay (AVOID) Act."
Section two amends subdivision (a) of section 1007 of Article 10 of the
Civil Practice Law and Rules so that prior pleadings are served on
impleaded parties twenty days after a third-party complaint is filed. It
also ensures that impleading provisions apply to legal entities. Section
two of the bill adds new subdivisions (b) through (e) to section 1007 of
Article 10 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules. Subdivisions (b), (c),
and (d) set forth time periods and limitations with which defendants and
third-party defendants must comply in order to implead parties. Subdivi-
sion (e) sets forth that in the event a third-party action is severed
from the initial action, and a third-party plaintiff proceeds to initi-
ate a new action by the filing of a summons and complaint against a
severed third-party defendant, any motion to consolidate such actions
shall not be permitted.
Section three of the bill states that this act shall take effect one
hundred and twenty days after it shall have become a law.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
A defendant who is sued may implead or "vouch in" any other persons or
legal entities that may be in whole or in part liable to the defendant
for the plaintiff's claim. The right is codified in section 1007 of the
CPLR.
However, section 1007 is silent regarding the timetable for impleading
such parties. Clever defendants have thus developed an egregious strate-
gy to add years to any case and, during that respite, avoid financial
accountability. These defendants deliberately delay the case by implead-
ing known or identifiable third-party defendants into a case on a roll-
ing basis, one after another after another etc. Each time a new third-
party defendant is added to the case, the newly added party has the
right to depose all the parties that have already been deposed, as well
as asking for document discovery that has already been produced. The
newly added party can also serve additional document requests tailored
to the pertinent liability issues concerning the newly added person or
legal entity. Discovery begins anew when a party joins a case
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect one hundred twentieth day after it shall have
become a law and shall only apply to cases pending on or after such
date.

Statutes affected:
S8071: 1007 civil practice law
S8071A: 1007 civil practice law