The focus of this article is applications to the Appellate Division, First Department, pursuant to CPLR 5519(c), for a stay of enforcement of a judgment or order pending an appeal from the judgment or order when a stay is not automatically granted pursuant to the provisions of CPLR 5519(a) or (b).1 More particularly, we will focus on what is nearly always the first step in the process: an “emergency” application to a single justice—who is called the “duty judge” in the First Department—for an interim stay of enforcement of the judgment or order at issue.2

Practitioners interested in a trenchant analysis of the relevant case law should read no further. After all, there are virtually no decisions from the First Department or, for that matter, from the other three departments, explaining why these applications are granted or denied. Rarer still, to the point of being non-existent, are published written decisions from individual justices explaining why they have granted or denied an interim stay. The dearth of decisions is understandable. Unlike the statutes governing other forms of injunctive relief—temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions3—CPLR 5519(c) does not specify any criteria governing the issuance of a stay. Thus, as one of the rare First Department decisions on point makes clear, “the granting of stays pending appeal…is, for the most part, a matter of discretion.”4 Moreover, stay applications are highly fact sensitive and the volume of appeals the Appellate Division must decide on the merits leaves precious little time for decisions explicating the rationale for determining stay applications under CPLR 5519(c).

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]