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FILED: ONONDAGA COUNTY CLERK 02/24/2022 06:07 PM INDEX NO. 003917/2021
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 24 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 02/24/2022
STATE OF NEW YORK
SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF ONONDAGA
COSTELLO, COONEY & FEARON, PLLC, Index No. 003917/2021
Hon. Deborah H. Karalunas, J.S.C.
Plaintiff,
AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT
-vs- OF MOTION TO COMPEL
DISCOVERY
MELINDA BURDICK BOWE,
Defendant.
___
STATE OF NEW YORK )
COUNTY OF ONONDAGA ) ss.:
PAUL G. FERRARA, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
1. Your deponent is an attorney duly licensed and admitted to practice law in the State
of New York and a member of the plaintiff law firm of Costello, Cooney & Fearon, PLLC
(hereinafter "CC&F"). As such, I am fully familiar with the facts and proceedings heretofore had
in this action.
2. I submit this Affidavit in support of CC&F's application for an Order pursuant to
Sections 3124 and 3126 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules compelling defendant to provide
responses to CC&F's Notice to Produce, Interrogatories, and various other discovery devices
within twenty (20) days, or else be absolutely precluded from offering any evidence at the trial of
this action with respect to the information responsive to CC&F's demands and Interrogatories.
3. Prior to addressing the issues raised in the preceding paragraph, itis necessary to
discuss the facts and circumstances surrounding this application.
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I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY
4. CC&F commenced this action by filing a Summons and Complaint with the
Onondaga County Clerk on April 23, 2021, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit A.
5. In CC&F's verified pleading, it set forth how defendant received and improperly
retained profit distributions following her withdrawal as a member of CC&F, and wrongfully
refused to return those monies to which she had no legal right. Furthermore, upon calculation of
the end-of-year capital account balances, itwas determined defendant had withdrawn from CC&F
with a negative capital account balance. Notwithstanding a long-standing firm practice of always
requiring partners or withdrawing members to repay negative balances, defendant has further
wrongfully failed or refused to remit any such payment, thereby depriving her former partners of
those funds, as well. (Ex. A).
6. After repeated efforts by CC&F to effect personal service upon defendant, who was
plainly avoiding the process server, defendant's counsel agreed to accept service during a
telephone conversation on May 5, 2021.
7. Defendant's counsel eventually returned the Admission and Acknowledgement of
Service of Process over a week later, under cover letter dated May 13, 2021, a copy of which is
attached as Exhibit B.
8. Defendant next requested an extension of time to respond to CC&F's Complaint.
CC&F extended such professional courtesy, and agreed to an extension until June 18, 2021.
9. Defendant filed and served her Answer to Verified Complaint on June 18, 2021, a
copy of which is attached as Exhibit C. Therein, defendant denied any obligation to reimburse
CC&F for the funds she had wrongfully received and retained, in excess of $42,000, and alleged a
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counterclaim speciously alleging she was owed even m_o_re money from CC&F pursuant to an Of
Counsel Agreement which she voluntarily terminated. (Ex. C).
10. By letter dated June 23, 2021, CC&F requested defendant enter into a
Confidentiality Stipulation and Order to preclude the dissemination of CC&F's confidential and
proprietary information and documents, which defendant requested in her discovery requests
served concurrently with her Answer. CC&F requested defendant advise if she would so agree by
noon on June 28, 2021. A copy of this letter is attached as Exhibit D.
11. Defendant provided no response within the time requested.
12. By Order to Show Cause filed that same day, CC&F sought a Protective Order from
the Court, in the absence of any response or agreement from defendant. (Dkt. 5).
13. In lieu of signing the Order to Show Cause, the Court scheduled an immediate
conference with counsel on June 30, 2021. During said conference, the Court stayed all
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deadlines, including the time to respond to defendant's counterclaims, and set forth a timeline in
which the parties were to exchange necessary information to thereafter formulate and exchange
settlement positions.
14. Unfortunately, the Court's timeline was further delayed by former counsel's
departure from her firm, and reassignment of the matter to Andrew Ryan, Esq.
15. CC&F agreed to extend the schedule set by the Court to allow Mr. Ryan ample time
to become familiar with the new file. (Dkt. 15).
16. The Court then set a follow-up conference for September 17, 2021. (Dkt. 17).
17. Although the value of CC&F's claims dwarfs any amounts due defendant pursuant
to her Of Counsel Agreement, defendant advanced an extreme position at the conference
parties'
demonstrating a preference to litigate, rather than resolve the dispute.
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18. Accordingly, CC&F began the onerous task of searching across its servers for
information responsive to defendant's previously-served Notice to Produce.
19. On or about September 15, 2021, CC&F served defendant a Request for
Defendant's Address pursuant to Section 3118 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules, a copy of
which is attached as Exhibit E.
20. CC&F also prepared and served its Notice to Produce on defendant on
September 30, 2021, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit F.
21. On that same day, defendant communicated her refusal to respond to the Request
for Defendant's Address. In response, your deponent wrote to counsel on October 5, 2021
regarding this initial discovery dispute. A copy of this firstgood-faith letteris attached hereto as
Exhibit G.
22. This firstgood-faith letter met with no response, and defendant has stillrefused to
provide her residential address, as required by the basic rules of New York practice.
23. CC&F further served defendant with a Demand for Tax Returns on October 14,
2021, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit H.
24. After extensive communication between counsel and further delays, defendant
finally agreed to the form Stipulated Confidentiality Order, exactly as originally proposed in June
2021, on October 20, 2021. The Court entered such Order on June 25, 2021. (Dkt. 19).
25. In the absence of any response to CC&F's Notice to Produce, previously served on
September 30, 2021, your deponent wrote a second good-faith letter to defendant's counsel on
November 16, 2021 regarding the lack of any timely objections or response, and further objecting
to defendant's failure or refusal to respond to a myriad of other discovery previously served more
than thirty (30) days prior to said letter. A copy of this letter is attached as Exhibit I.
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26. That same day, CC&F served plaintiff with itsFirst Set of Interrogatories, a copy of
which is attached as Exhibit J.
27. Your deponent's letter met with no response.
28. On or about December 2, 2021 (i.e., forty-eight (48) days following CC&F's
Demand), defendant refused to provide her tax returns during her tenure as a partner with CC&F.
This untimely response is attached as Exhibit K.
29. In a third (3rd) good-faith letter, dated December 9, 2021, CC&F objected to
defendant's refusal to provide her tax returns, since her own treatment of the disputed distributions
was material and reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. Her prior
accounting practices and income derived from her practice during her entire tenure with CC&F are
also material, since the evidence demonstrates defendant repeatedly breached her fiduciary duties
to CC&F, without regard for any duty of loyalty owed. CC&F further requested, once again, that
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defendant respond to CC&F's Notice to Produce and Interrogatories, response to which were
seriously delinquent. A copy of this letter is attached as Exhibit L.
30. Your deponent's partner, Daniel R. Rose, Esq., spoke with defendant's counsel,
Mr. Ryan, by telephone on December 14, 2021, regarding certain discovery disputes.
31. Upon defendant's objection to CC&F's document production, served
December 10, 2021, CC&F identified those Bates ranges of its production which corresponded to
defendant's various requests, and served its supplemental production, which completed CC&F's
response to defendant's Notice to Produce. CC&F further inquired into the status of defendant's
own discovery responses, in this fourth (4th) good-faith letter, dated December 21, 2021. This
letter is attached as Exhibit M.
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32. By letter dated January 4, 2022, CC&F served its privilege log to accompany its
document production. In that same letter, CC&F inquired, yet again, in this fifth (5th) good-faith
letter, the status of defendant's responses to its Demand for Defendant's Residence, Notice to
Produce, Demand for Tax Returns and First Set of Interrogatories. CC&F's fifth (5th) good-faith
attempt to avoid the instant motion is attached as Exhibit N.
33. This letter, as with all previous letters, met with no response.
34. By follow-up e-mail on January 10, 2022, Mr. Rose wrote to Mr. Ryan regarding
defendant's discovery deficiencies, and inquired when he might be available for a further
telephone conference to discuss the status of discovery. This e-mail is attached as Exhibit O.
35. Although Mr. Ryan responded the following day regarding scheduling depositions,
he was silent regarding defendant's own discovery obligations to provide a document production
and other responses. He also did not provide any availability for a telephone call.
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36. In a follow-up e-mail on January 12, 2022, Mr. Rose against pointed to defendant's
failure to even address when CC&F could reasóñably anticipate defendant's document production
and other outstanding discovery responses. Mr. Rose's e-mail is attached as Exhibit P.
3'7. That e-mail met with no response. Mr. Ryan never provided his availability for a
telephone call to address the discovery deficiencies.
38. On Thursday, February 3, 2022, Mr. Rose called Mr. Ryan about the missing
discovery. Mr. Ryan did not answer. Mr. Ryan returned Mr. Rose's call later that afternoon.
During that telephone conference, he represented that he would provide discovery responses and
defendant's document production to CC&F the following week.
39. No discovery responses or document production were received the following week,
as promised by defendant.
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40. In a final attempt to avoid motion practice (i.e.,CC&F's ninth (9th) good-faith
effort), Mr. Rose once again wrote to Mr. Ryan on February 18, 2022, requesting defendant's
discovery responses and document production be delivered to CC&F by February 23, 2022, to
avoid unnecessary motion practice. This final letter is attached as Exhibit Q.
41. This request similarly met with no response.
42. Defendant still has not responded to CC&F's Notice to Produce, served
September 30, 2021, or CC&F's First Set of Interrogatories, served November 16, 2021. These
responses are now nearly four (4) and three (3) months delayed, respectively, without any
objection, request for extension or motion for a protective order. Instead, defendant has simply
ignored her discovery obligations.
II. DEFENDANT MUST BE COMPELLED TO PROVIDE COMPLETE AND
PROPER DISCOVERY RESPONSES, INTERROGATORY
RESPONSES AND DOCUMENT PRODUCTIO_N
8
cr
43. Defendant also has not provided any timely or cogent objection or any viable legal
8
Ï theory why she may escape discovery of her tax returns and residence, pursuant to the Civil
Practice Law and Rules.
44. Defendant's dilatory litigation tactics have seriously delayed discovery in this
matter.
45. The information and documents sought in CC&F's Notice to Produce, First Set of
Interrogatories, Demand for Tax Returns, and Deinaiid for Residence are necessary to prosecute
this action and defend against defendant's counterclaims. It is necessary to obtain such
information prior to scheduling depositions in this matter. Furthermore, the requests are
reasonably calculated to lead to the discovely of admissible evidence.
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46. Pursuant to this Court's Scheduling Order, the deadline to complete depositions is
rapidly approaching in just over one (1) month. (Dkt. 20 at 2).
47. CC&F has been seriously prejudiced by defendant's refusal to comply with her
discovery obligations.
48. CC&F has made more than sufficient good-faith efforts to resolve these issues
without the need for judicial intervention. (Exs. G, I,L, M, N, O, P, Q).
49. No application has been made for the relief requested herein.
WHEREFORE, your deponent respectfully requests an Order of this Court pursuant to
Section 3124 and 3126 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules compelling defendant to provide
complete and proper responses to CC&F's First Set of Interrogatories, Notice to Produce, Demand
for Tax Returns and Demand for Defendant's Residence, within twenty (20) days, or else be
precluded from introducing evidence of allsuch matters at the trial of this action, together with the
8
costs and disbursements of this motion, and such other and further relief as the Court may deem
just and proper.
PAUIfG. FERRARA
.
Subscribed and sworn to before me
this EA day of February, 2022.
Notary Public
LAURIE J. ALESCI
RotaryPublicin the State of New York
in Oswego Co. No. 01AL4873119
0ualified
My Commission Expires October
6,202
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CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE
PURSUANT TO 22 NYCRR § 202.8-b
The foregoing Affidavit was prepared on a computer.
The total number of words in the Affidavit, inclusive of point headings and footnotes, and
exclusive of the caption, the table of contents, table of citations, signature block or certificate of
compliance, etc.is 2004, which complies with the word count limit.
Dated: February 24, 2022
COSTELLO, COON & FEARON, PLLC
PAUI G. FERRARA
Attorneys for Plaintiff
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Costello, Cooney & Fearon, PLLC
Office and Post Office Address
211 West Jefferson Street
Syracuse, New York 13202
Telephañc: (315) 422-1152
8
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Preview
FILED: ONONDAGA COUNTY CLERK 02/24/2022 06:07 PM INDEX NO. 003917/2021 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 24 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 02/24/2022 STATE OF NEW YORK SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF ONONDAGA COSTELLO, COONEY & FEARON, PLLC, Index No. 003917/2021 Hon. Deborah H. Karalunas, J.S.C. Plaintiff, AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT -vs- OF MOTION TO COMPEL DISCOVERY MELINDA BURDICK BOWE, Defendant. ___ STATE OF NEW YORK ) COUNTY OF ONONDAGA ) ss.: PAUL G. FERRARA, being duly sworn, deposes and says: 1. Your deponent is an attorney duly licensed and admitted to practice law in the State of New York and a member of the plaintiff law firm of Costello, Cooney & Fearon, PLLC (hereinafter "CC&F"). As such, I am fully familiar with the facts and proceedings heretofore had in this action. 2. I submit this Affidavit in support of CC&F's application for an Order pursuant to Sections 3124 and 3126 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules compelling defendant to provide responses to CC&F's Notice to Produce, Interrogatories, and various other discovery devices within twenty (20) days, or else be absolutely precluded from offering any evidence at the trial of this action with respect to the information responsive to CC&F's demands and Interrogatories. 3. Prior to addressing the issues raised in the preceding paragraph, itis necessary to discuss the facts and circumstances surrounding this application. 1 of 9 FILED: ONONDAGA COUNTY CLERK 02/24/2022 06:07 PM INDEX NO. 003917/2021 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 24 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 02/24/2022 I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY 4. CC&F commenced this action by filing a Summons and Complaint with the Onondaga County Clerk on April 23, 2021, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit A. 5. In CC&F's verified pleading, it set forth how defendant received and improperly retained profit distributions following her withdrawal as a member of CC&F, and wrongfully refused to return those monies to which she had no legal right. Furthermore, upon calculation of the end-of-year capital account balances, itwas determined defendant had withdrawn from CC&F with a negative capital account balance. Notwithstanding a long-standing firm practice of always requiring partners or withdrawing members to repay negative balances, defendant has further wrongfully failed or refused to remit any such payment, thereby depriving her former partners of those funds, as well. (Ex. A). 6. After repeated efforts by CC&F to effect personal service upon defendant, who was plainly avoiding the process server, defendant's counsel agreed to accept service during a telephone conversation on May 5, 2021. 7. Defendant's counsel eventually returned the Admission and Acknowledgement of Service of Process over a week later, under cover letter dated May 13, 2021, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit B. 8. Defendant next requested an extension of time to respond to CC&F's Complaint. CC&F extended such professional courtesy, and agreed to an extension until June 18, 2021. 9. Defendant filed and served her Answer to Verified Complaint on June 18, 2021, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit C. Therein, defendant denied any obligation to reimburse CC&F for the funds she had wrongfully received and retained, in excess of $42,000, and alleged a -2- 2 of 9 FILED: ONONDAGA COUNTY CLERK 02/24/2022 06:07 PM INDEX NO. 003917/2021 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 24 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 02/24/2022 counterclaim speciously alleging she was owed even m_o_re money from CC&F pursuant to an Of Counsel Agreement which she voluntarily terminated. (Ex. C). 10. By letter dated June 23, 2021, CC&F requested defendant enter into a Confidentiality Stipulation and Order to preclude the dissemination of CC&F's confidential and proprietary information and documents, which defendant requested in her discovery requests served concurrently with her Answer. CC&F requested defendant advise if she would so agree by noon on June 28, 2021. A copy of this letter is attached as Exhibit D. 11. Defendant provided no response within the time requested. 12. By Order to Show Cause filed that same day, CC&F sought a Protective Order from the Court, in the absence of any response or agreement from defendant. (Dkt. 5). 13. In lieu of signing the Order to Show Cause, the Court scheduled an immediate conference with counsel on June 30, 2021. During said conference, the Court stayed all 8 deadlines, including the time to respond to defendant's counterclaims, and set forth a timeline in which the parties were to exchange necessary information to thereafter formulate and exchange settlement positions. 14. Unfortunately, the Court's timeline was further delayed by former counsel's departure from her firm, and reassignment of the matter to Andrew Ryan, Esq. 15. CC&F agreed to extend the schedule set by the Court to allow Mr. Ryan ample time to become familiar with the new file. (Dkt. 15). 16. The Court then set a follow-up conference for September 17, 2021. (Dkt. 17). 17. Although the value of CC&F's claims dwarfs any amounts due defendant pursuant to her Of Counsel Agreement, defendant advanced an extreme position at the conference parties' demonstrating a preference to litigate, rather than resolve the dispute. -3- 3 of 9 FILED: ONONDAGA COUNTY CLERK 02/24/2022 06:07 PM INDEX NO. 003917/2021 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 24 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 02/24/2022 18. Accordingly, CC&F began the onerous task of searching across its servers for information responsive to defendant's previously-served Notice to Produce. 19. On or about September 15, 2021, CC&F served defendant a Request for Defendant's Address pursuant to Section 3118 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit E. 20. CC&F also prepared and served its Notice to Produce on defendant on September 30, 2021, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit F. 21. On that same day, defendant communicated her refusal to respond to the Request for Defendant's Address. In response, your deponent wrote to counsel on October 5, 2021 regarding this initial discovery dispute. A copy of this firstgood-faith letteris attached hereto as Exhibit G. 22. This firstgood-faith letter met with no response, and defendant has stillrefused to provide her residential address, as required by the basic rules of New York practice. 23. CC&F further served defendant with a Demand for Tax Returns on October 14, 2021, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit H. 24. After extensive communication between counsel and further delays, defendant finally agreed to the form Stipulated Confidentiality Order, exactly as originally proposed in June 2021, on October 20, 2021. The Court entered such Order on June 25, 2021. (Dkt. 19). 25. In the absence of any response to CC&F's Notice to Produce, previously served on September 30, 2021, your deponent wrote a second good-faith letter to defendant's counsel on November 16, 2021 regarding the lack of any timely objections or response, and further objecting to defendant's failure or refusal to respond to a myriad of other discovery previously served more than thirty (30) days prior to said letter. A copy of this letter is attached as Exhibit I. -4- 4 of 9 FILED: ONONDAGA COUNTY CLERK 02/24/2022 06:07 PM INDEX NO. 003917/2021 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 24 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 02/24/2022 26. That same day, CC&F served plaintiff with itsFirst Set of Interrogatories, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit J. 27. Your deponent's letter met with no response. 28. On or about December 2, 2021 (i.e., forty-eight (48) days following CC&F's Demand), defendant refused to provide her tax returns during her tenure as a partner with CC&F. This untimely response is attached as Exhibit K. 29. In a third (3rd) good-faith letter, dated December 9, 2021, CC&F objected to defendant's refusal to provide her tax returns, since her own treatment of the disputed distributions was material and reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. Her prior accounting practices and income derived from her practice during her entire tenure with CC&F are also material, since the evidence demonstrates defendant repeatedly breached her fiduciary duties to CC&F, without regard for any duty of loyalty owed. CC&F further requested, once again, that 8 defendant respond to CC&F's Notice to Produce and Interrogatories, response to which were seriously delinquent. A copy of this letter is attached as Exhibit L. 30. Your deponent's partner, Daniel R. Rose, Esq., spoke with defendant's counsel, Mr. Ryan, by telephone on December 14, 2021, regarding certain discovery disputes. 31. Upon defendant's objection to CC&F's document production, served December 10, 2021, CC&F identified those Bates ranges of its production which corresponded to defendant's various requests, and served its supplemental production, which completed CC&F's response to defendant's Notice to Produce. CC&F further inquired into the status of defendant's own discovery responses, in this fourth (4th) good-faith letter, dated December 21, 2021. This letter is attached as Exhibit M. 5 of 9 FILED: ONONDAGA COUNTY CLERK 02/24/2022 06:07 PM INDEX NO. 003917/2021 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 24 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 02/24/2022 32. By letter dated January 4, 2022, CC&F served its privilege log to accompany its document production. In that same letter, CC&F inquired, yet again, in this fifth (5th) good-faith letter, the status of defendant's responses to its Demand for Defendant's Residence, Notice to Produce, Demand for Tax Returns and First Set of Interrogatories. CC&F's fifth (5th) good-faith attempt to avoid the instant motion is attached as Exhibit N. 33. This letter, as with all previous letters, met with no response. 34. By follow-up e-mail on January 10, 2022, Mr. Rose wrote to Mr. Ryan regarding defendant's discovery deficiencies, and inquired when he might be available for a further telephone conference to discuss the status of discovery. This e-mail is attached as Exhibit O. 35. Although Mr. Ryan responded the following day regarding scheduling depositions, he was silent regarding defendant's own discovery obligations to provide a document production and other responses. He also did not provide any availability for a telephone call. 8 36. In a follow-up e-mail on January 12, 2022, Mr. Rose against pointed to defendant's failure to even address when CC&F could reasóñably anticipate defendant's document production and other outstanding discovery responses. Mr. Rose's e-mail is attached as Exhibit P. 3'7. That e-mail met with no response. Mr. Ryan never provided his availability for a telephone call to address the discovery deficiencies. 38. On Thursday, February 3, 2022, Mr. Rose called Mr. Ryan about the missing discovery. Mr. Ryan did not answer. Mr. Ryan returned Mr. Rose's call later that afternoon. During that telephone conference, he represented that he would provide discovery responses and defendant's document production to CC&F the following week. 39. No discovery responses or document production were received the following week, as promised by defendant. -6- 6 of 9 FILED: ONONDAGA COUNTY CLERK 02/24/2022 06:07 PM INDEX NO. 003917/2021 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 24 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 02/24/2022 40. In a final attempt to avoid motion practice (i.e.,CC&F's ninth (9th) good-faith effort), Mr. Rose once again wrote to Mr. Ryan on February 18, 2022, requesting defendant's discovery responses and document production be delivered to CC&F by February 23, 2022, to avoid unnecessary motion practice. This final letter is attached as Exhibit Q. 41. This request similarly met with no response. 42. Defendant still has not responded to CC&F's Notice to Produce, served September 30, 2021, or CC&F's First Set of Interrogatories, served November 16, 2021. These responses are now nearly four (4) and three (3) months delayed, respectively, without any objection, request for extension or motion for a protective order. Instead, defendant has simply ignored her discovery obligations. II. DEFENDANT MUST BE COMPELLED TO PROVIDE COMPLETE AND PROPER DISCOVERY RESPONSES, INTERROGATORY RESPONSES AND DOCUMENT PRODUCTIO_N 8 cr 43. Defendant also has not provided any timely or cogent objection or any viable legal 8 Ï theory why she may escape discovery of her tax returns and residence, pursuant to the Civil Practice Law and Rules. 44. Defendant's dilatory litigation tactics have seriously delayed discovery in this matter. 45. The information and documents sought in CC&F's Notice to Produce, First Set of Interrogatories, Demand for Tax Returns, and Deinaiid for Residence are necessary to prosecute this action and defend against defendant's counterclaims. It is necessary to obtain such information prior to scheduling depositions in this matter. Furthermore, the requests are reasonably calculated to lead to the discovely of admissible evidence. -7- 7 of 9 FILED: ONONDAGA COUNTY CLERK 02/24/2022 06:07 PM INDEX NO. 003917/2021 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 24 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 02/24/2022 46. Pursuant to this Court's Scheduling Order, the deadline to complete depositions is rapidly approaching in just over one (1) month. (Dkt. 20 at 2). 47. CC&F has been seriously prejudiced by defendant's refusal to comply with her discovery obligations. 48. CC&F has made more than sufficient good-faith efforts to resolve these issues without the need for judicial intervention. (Exs. G, I,L, M, N, O, P, Q). 49. No application has been made for the relief requested herein. WHEREFORE, your deponent respectfully requests an Order of this Court pursuant to Section 3124 and 3126 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules compelling defendant to provide complete and proper responses to CC&F's First Set of Interrogatories, Notice to Produce, Demand for Tax Returns and Demand for Defendant's Residence, within twenty (20) days, or else be precluded from introducing evidence of allsuch matters at the trial of this action, together with the 8 costs and disbursements of this motion, and such other and further relief as the Court may deem just and proper. PAUIfG. FERRARA . Subscribed and sworn to before me this EA day of February, 2022. Notary Public LAURIE J. ALESCI RotaryPublicin the State of New York in Oswego Co. No. 01AL4873119 0ualified My Commission Expires October 6,202 -8- 8 of 9 FILED: ONONDAGA COUNTY CLERK 02/24/2022 06:07 PM INDEX NO. 003917/2021 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 24 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 02/24/2022 CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE PURSUANT TO 22 NYCRR § 202.8-b The foregoing Affidavit was prepared on a computer. The total number of words in the Affidavit, inclusive of point headings and footnotes, and exclusive of the caption, the table of contents, table of citations, signature block or certificate of compliance, etc.is 2004, which complies with the word count limit. Dated: February 24, 2022 COSTELLO, COON & FEARON, PLLC PAUI G. FERRARA Attorneys for Plaintiff 6 Costello, Cooney & Fearon, PLLC Office and Post Office Address 211 West Jefferson Street Syracuse, New York 13202 Telephañc: (315) 422-1152 8 -9- 9 of 9