I was recently appointed Special Master (also known as a Special Referee) to supervise all pre-trial discovery in a matter pending in the New York State Supreme Court in the First Department pursuant to Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR) 3104(b). The litigation had been quite contentious prior to my appointment.

There had been several motions to the court related to discovery issues leading up to my assignment. The parties clearly were having difficulty agreeing on anything and were barely civil to one another. They simply could not agree on even basic issues. You could sense the animus—the exchanges between counsel were palpable. I now understood why the Presiding Justice felt the need to appoint a Special Master. He simply did not have the time or the resources that would be needed to move the case along to complete discovery and get the case on the trial calendar. As such, I was charged with ruling on all pending discovery issues, as well as all future applications regarding discovery as they arose.

Down to Business

Upon receiving my assignment pre-pandemic, I was tasked to review the Order of Appointment. I poured over the file and transcripts of the oral arguments, after which I conferred with the Presiding Justice to review any additional details and nuances about the matter that he may have been privy to.