Langona v Village of Garden City, 2022 NY Slip Op 01995 (2d Dept. 2022)
“As a result of the defendant’s failure to adequately comply with the discovery demands on or before the deadline imposed in the conditional order, the conditional order, which was served upon the defendant with notice of entry, became absolute (see Von Maack v Wyckoff Hgts. Med. Ctr., 195 AD3d 769, 771; Williams v Davita Healthcare Partners, Inc., 172 AD3d 791; Williams v Suttle, 168 AD3d 792, 794; State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v Anikeyeva, 130 AD3d 1007, 1007-1008). Although the defendant contends that its behavior was neither willful nor contumacious, “‘[w]ith this conditioning, the court relieves itself of the unrewarding inquiry into whether a party’s resistance was wilful'” (Matter of Metro-North Train Acc. of Feb. 3, 2015, 178 AD3d 929, 931, quoting Gibbs v St. Barnabas Hosp., 16 NY3d 74, 82 [internal quotation marks omitted]).
