With increased capacity to perform core tax administrative work, the IRS has launched an initiative aimed at high-income taxpayers who’ve failed to file federal income tax returns.

Beginning this week, IRS compliance letters—known as CP-59 Notices—will be dispatched on more

Nonparty subpoenas are a useful discovery tool in commercial disputes. Particularly when the dispute involves access to or control over funds on deposit with a financial institution, the institution’s account statements, and transaction records may be critical. But stringent requirements are imposed on a party seeking disclosure from a nonparty. If the requesting party does not include sufficient detail in the subpoena to demonstrate its relevance to the pleadings, then its request might prove fruitless. A recent decision from Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Robert Reed in UKI Freedom LLC v Organization for the Defense of Four Freedoms for Ukraine, Inc. exemplifies such a shortfall.

Background

Under CPLR 3101(a)(4), a party may obtain disclosure from a nonparty of “matter material and necessary in the prosecution or defense of an action.” When disclosure is sought from a nonparty, “more stringent requirements are imposed on the party seeking disclosure” (Velez v Hunts Point Multi-Serv. Ctr., Inc., 29 AD3d 104, 108 [1st Dept. 2006]). In practice, these “more stringent requirements” are fairly minimal, but the subpoenaing party must at least “sufficiently state the ‘circumstances or reasons’ underlying the subpoena” (Kapon v Koch, 23 NY3d 32, 34 [2014]).

The nonparty, or another party to the action, may move to quash the subpoena but bears “the initial burden of establishing either that the requested disclosure is utterly irrelevant to the action or that the futility of the process to uncover anything legitimate is inevitable or obvious” (Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v Confino, 175 AD3d 533, 534-35 [2d Dept. 2019] [internal quotations omitted]). If the movant meets this burden, then the burden shifts to the subpoenaing party to “establish that the discovery sought is material and necessary to the prosecution of the action” (id. at 535).

**Update** The County of Nassau’s property tax appeal filing deadline for the 2025/26 tax year has been extended from March 1 to March 18, 2024!

As the days of winter wind down, property owners throughout the State of New York

A confession of judgment has often been viewed as an important tool in settling a litigation or finalizing a transaction.  In 2019, the New York State Legislature made some significant amendments to the Confession of Judgment law (CPLR § 3218), particularly eliminating the ability of creditors to file confessions of judgment against non-New York residents.  As a result, the amended CPLR § 3218 provides that the confession must state the county in which “the defendant resided when it was executed,” and that the confession may only be filed in that county or, if the defendant moved to a different county within New York after signing the confession, “where the defendant resided at the time of filing.”  In a recent decision, Kings County Commercial Division Justice Leon Ruchelsman  addressed the damaging consequences of altering a confession of judgment to meet the “residency” requirements of CPLR § 3218.

Background

In Porges v Kleinman, plaintiff commenced an action stemming from a real estate investment opportunity in New Jersey.  Specifically, plaintiff alleged that defendant pressured plaintiff to obtain a high cost loan to finance the purchase of the property while not allowing plaintiff to conduct any due diligence.  Following the closing, plaintiff alleged that defendant pressured him into signing a promissory note and confession of judgment for $675,000.00.  Approximately a year after the closing, defendant commenced a separate action, which was later consolidated with the present action, to enforce the confession of judgment due to plaintiff’s alleged failure to make any payments towards the promissory note.

During the course of the litigation, plaintiff brought a motion to vacate the confession of judgment, arguing that the confession of judgment (i) did not specify the county in which plaintiff resided; and (ii) was altered by striking out “County of New York” and writing in “County of Kings” in the caption.  In opposition, defendant argued that the alteration of the caption was made at the express instruction of the Kings County Clerk’s office to allow for the confession of judgment to be filed in the appropriate venue.

On January 9, 2024, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finally approved New York State’s 1115 waiver amendment to establish the New York Health Equity Reform (NYHER) Program. That application, which is the successor to the state’s Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) Program that expired in March 2020, was first described in a concept paper issued by the Department of Health (DOH) in August 2021, and was filed with CMS in September 2022. The approved waiver amendment, which expires on March 31, 2027, includes most of the features included in the original application, but not all.

The overall goals of NYHER include:

  • Health-Related Social Needs: Investments in health-related social needs (HRSN) via greater integration between primary care providers and community-based organizations, with a goal of improved quality and outcomes.
  • Health Equity: Improving quality and outcomes of enrollees in geographic areas that have a longstanding history of health disparities and disengagement from the health system, including through an incentive program for safety net providers with exceptional exposure to enrollees with historically worse health outcomes and HRSN challenges.
  • Integrated Care: Focus on integrated primary care, behavioral health, and HRSN with a goal to improve population health and health equity outcomes for high-risk enrollees, including kids/youth, pregnant and postpartum individuals, the chronically homeless, and individuals with substance use disorder (SUD).
  • Workforce: Workforce investments with a goal of equitable and sustainable access to care in Medicaid.
  • Regional Approaches: Developing regionally focused approaches, including new value-based purchasing (VBP) programs, with a goal of statewide accountability for improving health, outcomes, and equity.

These goals are embodied in four new initiatives: (1) HRSN, (2) a Health Equity Regional Organization (HERO), (3) Medicaid Hospital Global Budget Initiative, and (4) Strengthen the Workforce. Each will be examined in turn.

In 2021 and 2022, I wrote about Surrogate’s Court decisions that addressed the admission of remotely witnessed wills to probate in New York State.  Since then, Surrogate’s Courts have issued at least two more decisions addressing the validity of remotely witnessed wills.  I now write to provide an update about the validity of remotely witnessed wills, having been involved in two cases that addressed the issue in 2023.