This piece summarizes several significant civil procedure decisions handed down by the New York Court of Appeals during its 2021-22 term. The number of appeals disposed of by the Court of Appeals during the term was relatively small, but the percentage of decisions devoted to civil procedure was thankfully high.

Given our space limitations, we have addressed these decisions in a somewhat abbreviated manner. There are frequent citations in this piece to David D. Siegel & Patrick M. Connors, New York Practice (Thomson, 6th ed. 2018), where readers can find background on the civil practice issues presented in these cases. The treatise is supplemented biannually (most recently in July) and contains further discussion of the decisions reported below, and others that wound up on the cutting-room floor.

Obtaining General Jurisdiction Over a Corporate Defendant

The Court's 2021-2022 term started off with a bang in the area of civil procedure when it handed down its decision in Aybar v. Aybar, 37 N.Y.3d 274 (2021), addressing personal jurisdiction over a corporation. In Aybar, plaintiffs sought to obtain general jurisdiction over defendants Goodyear and Ford in New York for claims arising out of an auto accident in Virginia in which three passengers were killed. While both Goodyear and Ford manifestly conduct substantial business in New York, neither is incorporated here and their principal places of business are in Ohio and Michigan, respectively. These facts essentially rendered the defendants beyond the general jurisdiction of the New York courts under the grounds outlined by the Supreme Court in Daimler AG v. Bauman, 571 U.S. 117 (2014), which upended long-held notions of personal jurisdiction over corporate defendants. See Siegel & Connors, New York Practice §82.