SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department

1191 

CA 13-00362 

PRESENT: SMITH, J.P., CENTRA, FAHEY, CARNI, AND WHALEN, JJ. 

 

KATHLEEN NASCA AND ANTHONY NASCA, 

PLAINTIFFS-APPELLANTS,

V MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

MARK LOUIS DELMONTE, DOING BUSINESS AS NIAGARA 

CHIROPRACTIC OFFICE (FORMERLY INCORRECTLY SUED 

HEREIN AS "NIAGARA CHIROPRACTIC"), 

DEFENDANT-RESPONDENT, 

ET AL., DEFENDANT. 

 

TRONOLONE & SURGALLA, P.C., BUFFALO, LAW OFFICE OF GERARD A. STRAUSS,

HAMBURG (GERARD A. STRAUSS OF COUNSEL), FOR PLAINTIFFS-APPELLANTS.

FELDMAN KIEFFER, LLP, BUFFALO (MATTHEW J. KIBLER OF COUNSEL), FOR

DEFENDANT-RESPONDENT. 

 

Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Erie County (Donna M.

Siwek, J.), entered May 8, 2012. The order denied the motions of

plaintiff to amend the amended complaint and to add a party defendant. 

It is hereby ORDERED that the order so appealed from is

unanimously modified on the law by granting the June 16, 2011 motion

upon condition that plaintiffs shall serve the proposed pleading

within 30 days of service of a copy of the order of this Court with

notice of entry and as modified the order is affirmed without costs in

accordance with the following Memorandum: Plaintiffs commenced this

medical malpractice action seeking damages for injuries sustained by

Kathleen Nasca (plaintiff) as a result of a cervical manipulation

performed by defendant Curtis R. Venne, D.C. The amended complaint

named Venne and Mark Louis DelMonte, doing business as Niagara

Chiropractic Office, as defendants. Over a year after the statute of

limitations expired, plaintiffs filed two motions seeking leave to

amend the amended complaint. 

In their first motion (hereafter, March motion), plaintiffs

sought to amend the amended complaint to add Mark Louis DelMonte, in

his individual capacity, and Mark Louis DelMonte, D.C., P.C. (DelMonte

P.C.) as defendants. According to plaintiffs, evidence had been

adduced in discovery supporting the claims that DelMonte P.C. is a

sham corporation and that misrepresentations were made to the public

and to plaintiff with respect to the employment status of Venne. 

Plaintiffs submitted a proposed “second amended complaint” in

connection with the March motion. We note at the outset with respect
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CA 13-00362 

to DelMonte in his individual capacity that plaintiffs previously

named DelMonte, doing business as Niagara Chiropractic Office, as a

defendant in the amended complaint. Plaintiffs thus were not required

to seek leave to amend the amended complaint to name him as a

defendant in his individual capacity (see Business Corporation Law §

1505 [a]).

While the March motion was pending, plaintiffs made a second

motion (hereafter, June motion), characterized by plaintiffs as an

application to amend the amended complaint to add DelMonte P.C. as a

“party defendant” and to deem service made nunc pro tunc on that

defendant. In the June motion, plaintiffs sought “leave to . . . file

and serve the third amended complaint” based on grounds that included

the relation back doctrine. In connection with the June motion,

plaintiffs submitted a proposed “third amended complaint” that is

substantively identical to the proposed “second amended complaint.” 

Supreme Court denied the June motion and deemed the March motion to be

moot on the ground that plaintiffs’ claims are barred by the statute

of limitations. The court characterized the March motion as one

seeking leave to amend the amended complaint and deemed the June

motion as one to add a party defendant. We conclude that the motions

seek essentially the same relief and thus that the March motion was

superseded by the June motion. We further conclude that the court

erred in denying the June motion, and we therefore modify the order

accordingly. 

 We conclude that the court erred in denying plaintiffs’ motion

with respect to DelMonte P.C. based upon the relation back doctrine. 

In order for the relation back doctrine to apply, a plaintiff must

establish that “(1) both claims arose out of the same conduct,

transaction, or occurrence, (2) the additional party is united in

interest with the original party, and by reason of that relationship

can be charged with notice of the institution of the action such that

he or she will not be prejudiced in maintaining a defense on the

merits, and (3) the additional party knew or should have known that,

but for a mistake by the plaintiff as to the identity of the proper

parties, the action would have been brought against the additional

party as well” (Kirk v University OB-GYN Assoc., Inc., 104 AD3d 1192,

1193-1194; see Buran v Coupal, 87 NY2d 173, 178; Haidt v Kurnath, 86

AD3d 935, 936). 

Here, we conclude that the first prong of the relation back

doctrine test is satisfied because the claims against DelMonte P.C.

arise out of the same occurrence as that alleged against DelMonte,

doing business as Niagara Chiropractic Office, i.e., Venne’s treatment

of plaintiff (see Kirk, 104 AD3d at 1193-1194; Cole v Tat-Sum Lee, 309

AD2d 1165, 1167). We further conclude that plaintiffs satisfied the

second prong of that test inasmuch as DelMonte P.C. employed Venne and

therefore may be held vicariously liable for his conduct (see Verizon

N.Y., Inc. v LaBarge Bros. Co., Inc., 81 AD3d 1294, 1296; see also De

Sanna v Rockefeller Ctr., Inc., 9 AD3d 596, 598; Schiavone v Victory

Mem. Hosp., 300 AD2d 294, 295). We conclude that plaintiffs also

satisfied the third prong of that test inasmuch as they established

that their failure to include DelMonte P.C. as a defendant in the
-3- 1191 

CA 13-00362 

original or first amended complaint “ ‘was a mistake and not . . . the

result of a strategy to obtain a tactical advantage’ ” (Haidt, 86 AD3d

at 936; see Kirk, 104 AD3d at 1193-1194; see also Buran, 87 NY2d at

176). 

Finally, we note that plaintiffs’ inclusion of allegations in the

proposed third amended complaint relating to their attempt to pierce

the corporate veil is of no moment. Piercing the corporate veil is

not “a cause of action independent of that against the corporation;

rather it is an assertion of facts and circumstances which will

persuade the court to impose the corporate obligation on its owners”

(Matter of Morris v New York State Dept. of Taxation & Fin., 82 NY2d

135, 141; see Robinson v Day, 103 AD3d 584, 588; H & R Project Assoc.

v City of Syracuse, 289 AD2d 967, 968). By their additional

allegations, plaintiffs did not assert a new cause of action.

Entered: November 15, 2013 Frances E. Cafarell

Clerk of the Court