Relates to an affirmation by any person, wherever made, in a civil action

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why the sponsor says this is needed

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.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.