HOLLYWOOD CAFÉ DINER, INC. VS. GERI JAFFEE, ET AL. (L-2786-19, CAMDEN COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (A-2272-20)
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the parties in this legal malpractice action exchanged minimal discovery before the court issued its notice pursuant to Rule 4:36-2, advising that discovery would end in sixty days and any application for an extension must be made before the discovery end date (DED). Thirty days later, the court issued a trial date.
The parties secured a consensual sixty-day discovery extension, see Rule 4:24-1(c), but when defendants moved before expiration of the DED for a further extension, the judge denied the motion, concluding the exceptional circumstances standard applied because a trial date was set, and defendants failed to meet that standard. Plaintiff's motion for reconsideration was similarly denied, but not before defendants sought summary judgment, essentially arguing the lack of expert opinion doomed plaintiff's complaint. The judge granted defendants summary judgment.
The court reversed. The court construed Rule 4:24-1(c), which states a judge shall grant an extension motion upon good cause if made before the DED, but also states a court may grant a discovery extension only in exceptional circumstances once an arbitration or trial date is set. The court concluded that while court administrators may send notices setting future arbitration and trial dates before discovery ends, the plain language of the Rule, read in pari materia with other rules, requires judges to apply the good cause standard if the motion for a discovery extension is made before the DED. Plaintiff met the good cause standard.
