At the time of trial, a decision must be made in certain cases as to whether an application should be made for the trial to be bifurcated, such that liability is tried first and, if the plaintiff prevails, then a trial on damages will follow, or to seek a unified trial whereby all aspects are tried in front of a single jury at one time. When a personal injury case is tried, a plaintiff will want a jury to fully understand that defendants’ negligence has caused grievous harm, whereas defendants will prefer to remove sympathy factors in contesting liability and determining fault.

For years, trial lawyers have generally assumed that most cases in the Second Department will be bifurcated. Hopefully, its recent decision in Castro v. Malia Realty, 177 A.D. 3d 58 (2d Dept. 2019) will clarify and correct this assumption.

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