Antolini v. McCloskey

Background

Dino Antolini sued Amy McCloskey, Theresa Laurent, Dimur Enterprises Inc., Eddie C K Chung, and C&S Millennium Real Estate. He alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the New York State Human Rights Law, the New York Civil Rights Law, the New York City Administrative Code, and common-law negligence.

The dispute addressed here arose during discovery, the evidence-gathering phase of the case. Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron had ordered that, during Antolini’s deposition, objections generally be limited to objections about the form of a question or attorney-client privilege. Finkelstein nevertheless made repeated speaking objections, told Antolini not to answer questions that were not covered by privilege, and unilaterally ended the April 19, 2021 deposition. During a later deposition on August 26, 2021, Finkelstein continued to disregard the court’s instructions. Antolini also failed to attend a scheduled continued deposition on July 23, 2021.

Both sides moved for sanctions. The magistrate judge recommended denying Antolini’s motion, granting monetary sanctions against Finkelstein and against Antolini and Finkelstein for the missed deposition, and denying dismissal of the lawsuit as a further sanction. Antolini filed objections to that recommendation.

Court’s Review and Rulings

The district court reviewed the portions of the recommendation that were properly challenged independently and reviewed the remaining portions for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake. It adopted the recommendation in full.

The court denied Antolini’s sanctions motion. It agreed that the defendants’ attorney had not used unreasonable, abusive, or oppressive questioning and had not badgered Antolini. The court concluded that the attorney’s repeated questions were responses to Finkelstein’s improper objections, interruptions, and instructions that Antolini not answer.

The court granted the defendants’ motion for monetary sanctions. It found that Finkelstein’s conduct violated court orders and interfered with the fair examination of Antolini. The court imposed $50 for each improper speaking objection and $100 for each improper instruction not to answer, totaling $6,250. Finkelstein also had to pay the defendants’ reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs caused by the sanctions briefing. The court found that his noncompliance was willful and not substantially justified.

The court also imposed monetary sanctions jointly and severally on Antolini and Finkelstein for the canceled July 23 deposition. Joint and several liability means that each may be required to pay the full amount. The amount was $787.50, representing 3.5 hours of the defendants’ attorney’s time at $225 per hour. The court found that Antolini and Finkelstein had not shown a sufficient justification for failing to proceed with the deposition.

Finally, the court denied the defendants’ motion for a terminal sanction—that is, dismissal of the lawsuit as a discovery penalty. The court agreed that dismissal would be excessively harsh because Finkelstein’s conduct had not caused irreversible prejudice and lesser sanctions were sufficient.

Disposition

The court denied Antolini’s motion for sanctions, granted the defendants’ motion for monetary sanctions, and denied the defendants’ motion for terminal sanctions. This opinion decided discovery-sanctions issues; it did not decide the merits of Antolini’s discrimination or negligence claims.