91 A.D.2d 579 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1982
— Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Henry Williams, J.), entered October 20, 1981, which, inter alia, denied plaintiff’s motion for a protective order pursuant to CPLR 3103, unanimously modified, on the law, without costs, to the extent of granting the motion for a protective order, vacating the notice to produce annexed as a rider to the cross notice to take plaintiff’s deposition, and in the event defendant is successful in establishing the existence of a matrimonial cause of action, without prejudice to defendant proceeding to obtain production of relevant documents by service of a proper notice to produce, which identifies the documents and records required with reasonable particularity, and otherwise affirmed. In this action plaintiff seeks a judgment, pursuant to CPLR 3001, declaring that the parties are not and never have been married to each other. Defendant answered interposing four counterclaims, seeking, inter alia, an absolute divorce premised upon plaintiff’s continuing adultery and cruel and inhuman treatment and, in addition, an equitable distribution of the marital assets. The matrimonial counterclaims are founded upon defendant’s assertion that there existed a common-law marriage as a result of the parties having lived together and holding themselves out as husband and wife in Atlanta, Georgia, in June of 1977. Upon this basis, defendant sought production of a wide range of documents and records pertaining to plaintiff’s finances, by service of a five-page rider annexed to defendant’s cross notice to take plaintiff’s deposition, containing 23 categories of documents to be produced. Included was a broad and blanket demand for production of “any and all” bank statements, stock records, income tax returns, trust agreements, insurance policies, safe deposit box records, and records reflecting any transfer of assets. Special Term denied the motion which sought vacatur of the notice as an overly broad and unnecessarily vague request for disclosure,