BILL NUMBER: S8195

SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to an
affirmation by any person, wherever made, in a civil action

2.  
SOURCE OF BILL

This bill is being introduced at the request of the Unified Court
System.

3.  
PURPOSE OF BILL

This bill would amend the Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR) to expand
the use of affirmations in lieu of affidavits in civil matters.

4.  
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS

This bill amends CPLR § 2106 to expand the use of affirmations in lieu
              

of affidavits.

5.  
JUSTIFICATION

CPLR § 2106 has permitted attorneys and physicians to file unsigned
affirmations in lieu of affidavits since adoption of the CPLR in 1963.
For many years there has been an effort to broaden its availability to
all persons to promote uniformity, reduce aspects of confusion regarding
differences in federal and state litigation practice (as federal law has
allowed unsworn affirmations by all persons in federal courts for
decades), and bridge an access to justice gap by sparing court users the
cost of finding and paying notaries public.

In 2014, CPLR § 2106 was expanded to permit use of affirmations by all
persons, but only for affirmations signed outside of the United States.
(Chapter 380 of 2014). In 2023, CPLR § 2106 was amended further to allow
affirmations in lieu of affidavits for all persons, wherever made.
(Chapter 559 of 2023). The scope of the legislation was intended to be
broad, but its precise contours remain ambiguous. Specifically, there
has been confusion as to whether the 2023 law allows affirmations to
replace sworn statements other than affidavits, such as verified plead-
ings, answers to interrogatories, responses to notices to admit, and
bills of particulars. The courts and practitioners were left without
guidance to address these situations and the result has been a variety
of conclusions, with occasionally unfortunate consequences when a prac-
titioner adopted one interpretation and a court made the opposite deter-
mination in the same matter.

This bill makes additional clarifying amendments to CPLR § 2106 to
clearly enumerate the types of documents for which affirmations maybe-
substituted in civil matters, namely affidavits, certificates, responses
to notices to admit, answers to interrogatories, verifications of a
pleading, bills of particulars, and any other sworn statements. In addi-
tion, the bill makes clear that these changes do not affect the require-
ment set forth in the Domestic Relations Law that matrimonial agreements
must be acknowledged in the form of a deed.

6.  
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
This is a new bill.

7.  
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

This bill would have no fiscal impact on the State.

8.  
EFFECTIVE DATE
This bill would take effect immediately.