In McKanic v Amigos del Museo del Barrio, the trial court dismissed the complaint upon plaintiff’s failure to comply with a discovery order directing the plaintiff to provide authorizations for federal tax returns. The defendants were entitled to the authorizations because the defendants were unable to obtain plaintiff’s salary history either from her or from her purported former employers to evaluate her loss of wages claim. The order stated that the action would be dismissed if the plaintiff failed to comply. The Appellate Division affirmed the decision, stating the defendants established that the information was indispensable to the litigation and unavailable from other sources. When the plaintiff failed to provide the authorizations, the conditional dismissal “became absolute” and the case was dismissed.

Special thanks to Bill Kirrane for his contributions to this post. If you have any questions, please contact Bob Cosgrove at .

http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2010/2010_05478.htm