621 N.Y.S.2d 822 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1994
—Judgment unanimously modified on the law and as modified affirmed without costs in
The complaint, insofar as it can be construed as alleging a cause of action in prima facie tort, was properly dismissed. A plaintiff who can allege a traditional tort may not rely upon a theory of prima facie tort to avoid the one-year Statute of Limitations for intentional torts (see, Jones v City of New York, 161 AD2d 518, 519; see also, Curiano v Suozzi, 63 NY2d 113, 117-119).
The court should have granted plaintiff’s motion for renewal of defendant’s motion to disqualify plaintiff’s attorney and, upon renewal, should have denied the motion. A disqualification motion must be "carefully scrutinized” because it "denies a party’s right to representation by the attorney of [his] choice” (S & S Hotel Ventures Ltd. Partnership v 777 S.H. Corp., 69 NY2d 437, 443). Plaintiff demonstrated that defendant’s grounds for seeking disqualification were without merit and that the motion was made to gain a "strategic advantage” over plaintiff (S & S Hotel Ventures Ltd. Partnership v 777 S.H. Corp., supra, at 443). Moreover, plaintiff was unsuccessful in his effort to secure the services of another attorney. (Appeal from Judgment of Supreme Court, Genesee County, Wolf, Jr., J.—Summary Judgment.) Present—Green, J. P., Lawton, Fallon, Doerr and Davis, JJ.