Key Takeaway
Court rules that dismissal for prior pending proceeding requires substantially the same relief being sought in both actions, rejecting tenant's motion to dismiss landlord's holdover proceeding.
Understanding when courts will dismiss a case due to a prior pending proceeding is crucial in litigation strategy. Under New York Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR) 3211(a)(4), a defendant can move to dismiss a case if there’s already another action pending between the same parties seeking substantially the same relief. However, as a recent landlord-tenant dispute demonstrates, courts scrutinize whether the relief sought in both proceedings is truly identical or merely similar.
The distinction between declaratory judgment actions and special proceedings becomes particularly important in this analysis. While both types of legal actions can address related issues, they often seek different forms of relief, which can impact whether a dismissal motion will succeed. This principle extends beyond landlord-tenant law into other areas of civil litigation, including procedural challenges in no-fault insurance cases.
Jason Tenenbaum’s Analysis:
Mordini Estates, Inc. v Punto Zero, Inc., 2014 NY Slip Op 51661(U)
“In support of the branch of tenant’s motion seeking to dismiss the petition pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (4), tenant failed to demonstrate that the relief sought in tenant’s pending declaratory judgment action was the same or substantially the same as that sought by landlord in this holdover proceeding to recover possession. ” Dismissal on the ground of prior proceeding pending is not appropriate where substantially the same relief is not being sought in the two proceedings’ ”
The quick and dirty of this case is that where a declaratory action and the plenary action or special proceeding seek similar or the same relief, a dismissal motion may be appropriate. I would note that the Court is Solorzano did not find the no-fault action (seeking recovery on overdue bills) and the declaratory judgment action (seeking a broad coverage based determination) are similar for purposes of this rule.
Key Takeaway
Courts require more than superficial similarity between proceedings to grant dismissal under CPLR 3211(a)(4). The relief sought must be substantially the same, not merely related. In Mordini Estates, the tenant’s declaratory judgment action and the landlord’s holdover proceeding sought fundamentally different remedies, making dismissal inappropriate despite both cases involving the same parties and property.
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Legal Update (February 2026): Since this 2014 analysis, CPLR provisions regarding dismissal motions and the standards for evaluating “substantially the same relief” may have been refined through subsequent case law and potential rule amendments. Practitioners should verify current CPLR 3211(a)(4) interpretations and any updated court guidance on distinguishing between declaratory judgment actions and special proceedings when assessing dismissal strategies.
