| Hoey v Rawlings |
| 2008 NY Slip Op 04652 [51 AD3d 868] |
| May 20, 2008 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| Kathleen Hoey, Appellant, v Bernard Rawlings,Respondent. |
—[*1] Peltz & Walker, New York, N.Y. (Bhalinder L. Rikhye of counsel), for respondent.
In an action to recover damages for medical malpractice and lack of informed consent, theplaintiff appeals from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Rockland County (Smith, J.), enteredOctober 16, 2006, which, upon a jury verdict and upon the denial of her motion pursuant toCPLR 4404 (a) to set aside the verdict and for a new trial, is in favor of the defendant and againsther, dismissing the complaint.
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.
The plaintiff contends that she was deprived of her right to a fair trial as a result of judicialbias, as purportedly evidenced by, inter alia, repeated threats from the trial court to hold herattorney in contempt. The record demonstrates that the plaintiff's attorney interrupted certainremarks of the trial court and, ignoring the court's admonition to desist, persisted in this type ofrude and offensive conduct. Since such conduct would otherwise constitute contempt(see Judiciary Law § 750 [A]; Matter of Waldman v Churchill, 262 NY247 [1933]), the trial court's conduct in reprimanding the plaintiff's attorney and threatening himwith contempt for his behavior during trial, did not demonstrate bias against counsel that wouldwarrant reversal in this action (see e.g.Lorenzo v Mass, Inc., 31 AD3d 616 [2006]).
The plaintiff's remaining contentions are either without merit or not properly before us.Fisher, J.P., Ritter, Florio and Carni, JJ., concur.