NY Appellate Division: Civil Defendant’s Use of Standard Affirmative Defense Based on Lack of Personal Jurisdiction Was Not Effective
On January 27, 2021 by Schnader in Product LiabilityCary Stewart Sklaren published a client alert, “NY Appellate Division: Civil Defendant’s Use of Standard Affirmative Defense Based on Lack of Personal Jurisdiction Was Not Effective.”
Defendants in New York civil cases may now consider revising their standard answers to complaints when asserting an affirmative defense of lack of personal jurisdiction. An equivocal statement regarding personal jurisdiction may not preserve the defense. See the succinct opinion by the Appellate Division First Department in In the Matter of New York City Asbestos Litigation (Barber), 2021 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 13 (App. Div. 1st Dep’t Jan. 5, 2021). The court agreed that the affirmative defense asserted by the defendant “lacked specificity and did not fairly apprise the plaintiffs of the objection to jurisdiction now being raised.”