NY Commercial Division Rules: Thresholds, Discovery, and Motions

New York’s Commercial Division is a specialized part of the Supreme Court that hears high-value business disputes under a tighter, faster set of procedural rules than general civil practice. The rules of the New York Commercial Division, set out in 22 NYCRR § 202.70, control which cases qualify, how to get assigned, and how discovery, motions, and conferences run once you’re in. The division sits in eleven counties, and assignment turns on two gates: a county-specific damages threshold and a subject-matter test.

Monetary Thresholds by County

The threshold is based on actual compensatory damages, not counting punitive damages, interest, costs, disbursements, or attorney fees.¹ Current amounts:

$500,000 in New York County
$200,000 in Nassau County
$150,000 in Kings County
$100,000 in the Eighth Judicial District, Queens County, Suffolk County, and Westchester County
$75,000 in Bronx County
$50,000 in Albany County, Onondaga County, and the Seventh Judicial District

Some case types bypass the monetary threshold entirely. Shareholder derivative actions, commercial class actions, and dissolutions of business entities all qualify regardless of the amount at stake.²

Qualifying Case Types

Meeting the dollar amount isn’t enough. The dispute must fall within a recognized commercial category:

Breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, misrepresentation, and unfair competition arising out of business dealings such as sales of assets or securities, corporate restructuring, partnership agreements, and technology transactions
Uniform Commercial Code disputes, other than those involving individual cooperative or condominium units
Commercial real property transactions, including Yellowstone injunctions, but not actions limited to collecting rent
Internal affairs of business organizations, shareholder derivative actions, and dissolution of corporations, partnerships, LLCs, and joint ventures
Malpractice by accountants or actuaries, and legal malpractice arising from representation in commercial matters
Environmental insurance coverage and commercial insurance coverage such as directors-and-officers and errors-and-omissions policies
Applications to stay or compel arbitration, and to confirm or vacate awards under CPLR Article 75, when the underlying dispute involves a qualifying commercial issue²

Cases the Division Will Not Hear

Seven categories are excluded regardless of the amount involved:

Suits to collect professional fees
Declaratory judgment actions seeking insurance coverage for personal injury or property damage
Residential real estate disputes, including landlord-tenant matters, and commercial real estate disputes limited to rent collection
Home improvement contracts involving residential properties of one to four units, including individual co-op or condo units
Proceedings to enforce a judgment, regardless of the nature of the underlying case
First-party insurance claims and actions by insurers to collect premiums or rescind non-commercial policies
Attorney malpractice actions, unless the malpractice arose out of representation in a qualifying commercial matter³

Filing for Assignment

Any party can seek assignment by filing a Request for Judicial Intervention together with a completed Commercial Division RJI Addendum. The addendum certifies that the case meets the monetary threshold and fits a qualifying category. You select the specific type of commercial dispute from a checklist and state the amount of compensatory damages claimed.⁴

The deadline is strict. The RJI and addendum must be filed within 90 days of serving the complaint, and missing that window generally forecloses a later request for Commercial Division assignment.² Get the addendum right the first time. An inaccurate claim amount or a misidentified case type can lead to the clerk rejecting the filing, or to the assigned justice transferring the case out after review.

Transfers In and Out

If a party files an RJI within the 90-day window but doesn’t designate the case as commercial, it lands in a general civil part. Any other party then has ten days after receiving a copy of the RJI to ask the Administrative Judge by letter application to transfer it into the Commercial Division. Outside those time limits, a party can still seek transfer for good cause, and a non-Commercial Division justice can request a transfer on their own initiative.²

Transfer works the other way too. If the assigned Commercial Division justice decides a case doesn’t belong there, the justice can move it to a non-commercial part. A party unhappy with that transfer has ten days to appeal by letter to the Administrative Judge, whose decision is final with no further administrative review.

Preliminary Conference and Rule 1

The court schedules a preliminary conference within 45 days of assignment. Except for good cause, that conference can be adjourned only once and for no more than 30 days. Before the conference, counsel for all parties must consult about potential resolution, discovery planning (including electronic discovery), the timing of expert disclosure, whether alternative dispute resolution could help, and any informal information exchange that might encourage early settlement.²

Rule 1 sets the tone for every appearance: counsel must be fully familiar with the case and fully authorized to enter into both substantive and procedural agreements on behalf of the client. Failing that standard can be treated as a default. Sending an associate who can’t make decisions on the spot is a fast way to damage credibility with the court.

Discovery Rules

Depositions

Each side is limited to ten depositions, and each deposition is capped at seven hours. Parties can agree to different limits, or the court can adjust them, but the default keeps discovery focused.⁵

Interrogatories

Interrogatories are capped at 25, including subparts, unless the preliminary conference order sets a different number. The topics are also restricted. During discovery, interrogatories can address only witness identification, damage computations, and the existence and location of key documents. Broader interrogatories on claims and contentions can be served at the end of discovery, at least 30 days before the discovery cutoff. Anything outside these categories requires the other party’s consent or a court order for good cause.⁶

Electronic Discovery

Rule 11-c requires parties to confer about electronic discovery topics before the preliminary conference. Any disagreements go to the court at that conference. The rule builds in a proportionality check: the costs and burdens of producing electronically stored information must be proportionate to the benefits, considering the nature of the dispute and the amount at stake. If a request is disproportionate, the court can deny it or condition production on the requesting party covering the reasonable cost.²

Inadvertent production of privileged material doesn’t automatically waive the privilege. If the producing party took reasonable precautions and promptly notified the receiving party in writing, the receiving party must return or destroy the material. Parties can also agree to a non-waiver order at the outset, which is standard practice in document-heavy cases.

Privilege Logs

The division prefers a categorical approach to privilege logging, where similar documents are grouped by category rather than listed individually. This is a stated preference, not a rigid mandate. Parties are expected to discuss the scope of privilege review at the outset and agree where possible on categorical designations. If they can’t agree, the court resolves it.⁷

Discovery Disputes

Commercial Division judges strongly prefer resolving discovery disputes through conferences rather than formal motions. Before filing anything, counsel must make a good-faith effort to work it out directly. If that fails, the moving party submits a letter of no more than three single-spaced pages describing the dispute. The opposing party has four business days to respond with its own three-page letter. The court then schedules a phone or in-court conference. Filing a formal motion without going through this process can result in the motion being held in abeyance until the court conferences the issue.²

Expert Disclosure

If any party plans to use expert testimony at trial, the parties must confer on an expert disclosure schedule no later than 30 days before fact discovery ends. All expert work, from identifying experts to exchanging reports to completing depositions, must wrap up within four months after fact discovery closes. A retained or specially employed expert must provide a signed written report covering all opinions and their bases, the data considered, supporting exhibits, the expert’s qualifications and publication history over the past ten years, other cases where the expert testified in the prior four years, and the expert’s compensation for the engagement.²

The note of issue cannot be filed until expert disclosure is complete. Expert disclosure served late without good cause will be precluded at trial.

Motion Practice

Electronically submitted memoranda of law that cite documents previously filed on NYSCEF must include hyperlinks to those docket entries. The court can also require hyperlinks to cited decisions, statutes, and other legal authorities in legal research databases or government websites. A party unable to include hyperlinks due to technology limitations can seek an exemption by certifying good cause.⁸

Under Rule 19-a, the court may direct that a summary judgment motion include a separate, numbered Statement of Material Facts identifying each fact the moving party contends is undisputed. When that direction is given, the opposing party must respond with correspondingly numbered paragraphs addressing each point. Any fact the opposing party doesn’t specifically controvert is deemed admitted for purposes of the motion. The opposing party can also add its own numbered paragraphs identifying facts it contends are genuinely disputed.⁹ Judges rely on this format heavily when deciding whether any genuine issue remains for trial.

Accelerated Adjudication

Rule 9 offers an optional fast track. If all parties consent in writing, the case proceeds under accelerated procedures with a goal of being trial-ready within nine months of filing the RJI. Parties can build consent into their contracts in advance using specific opt-in language.

The tradeoffs are significant. Parties in an accelerated action irrevocably waive:

Objections based on personal jurisdiction or forum non conveniens
The right to a jury trial
The right to recover punitive or exemplary damages
The right to any interlocutory appeal
Broad discovery rights, with discovery limited to seven interrogatories, five requests to admit, and no more than seven depositions per side (each capped at seven hours)

Electronic discovery in accelerated cases follows narrower rules, with document custodians restricted to individuals whose files are reasonably expected to contain material evidence. If the costs are disproportionate to the dispute, the court can deny or modify the request.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

The Commercial Division doesn’t force parties into mediation, but it does force them to think about it. At every conference, starting with the preliminary conference, counsel must submit a certified statement confirming they have discussed ADR options with their client and indicating whether the client is willing to pursue mediation at some point during the litigation.² The assigned justice can also order parties into the division’s ADR program when the justice determines it would serve the efficient processing of the case.

Representation for Business Entities

Corporations, LLCs, and other business entities cannot represent themselves. A business must appear through a licensed attorney. An officer or shareholder who tries to file papers or argue on behalf of the entity without a law license is engaging in the unauthorized practice of law, and the court will not hear them. This catches some small-business owners off guard, particularly in cases near the lower monetary thresholds. If you’re the sole owner of an LLC facing a Commercial Division claim and you don’t retain counsel, the court can treat your non-appearance as a default.

1
New York State Unified Court System. Section 202.70 Rules of the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court
2
New York Courts. Section 202.70 Rules of the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court
3
Cornell Law Institute. New York Code 22 Part 202.70 – Rules of the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court
4
New York State Unified Court System. Request for Judicial Intervention Commercial Division Addendum
5
Cornell Law Institute. New York Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations Title 22 Section 202.70.11-d – Limitations on Depositions
6
Legal Information Institute. New York Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations Title 22 Section 202.70.11-a – Interrogatories
7
Legal Information Institute. New York Compilation of Codes, Rules, and Regulations Title 22 Section 202.70.11-b – Privilege Logs
8
New York State Unified Court System. Commercial Division Rule 6 – Hyperlinking Requirements
9
Cornell Law Institute. New York Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations Title 22 Section 202.70.19-a – Motions for Summary Judgment; Statements of Material Facts