One aspect of legal malpractice litigation is the failure to follow developments in the law. Rules change and not keeping up with the changes leads to mistakes, criticism and, later, litigation. The rules for non-party discovery have undergone some changes over the years, and today’s decision is worth reading.

In Kooper v Kooper ; 2010 NY Slip Op 04147  Appellate Division, Second Department ;Angiolillo, J., J. the Court lays out an arc of procedure for non-party discovery. Prior to 1984 a motion was required. The rule was amended and then in 2002 the rule was amended again to allow for subpoenas instead of motions when seeking documents from a non-party. Now the rule again changes:
 

"Subsequent to Dioguardi, many of our cases involving nonparty discovery continued to hold that "special circumstances" must be shown (see e.g. Katz v Katz, 55 AD3d 680, 683; Moran v McCarthy, Safrath & Carbone, P.C., 31 AD3d 725, 726; Attinello v DeFilippis, 22 AD3d 514, 515; Tannenbaum v Tenenbaum, 8 AD3d 360; Lanzello v Lakritz, 287 AD2d 601; Bostrom v William Penn Life Ins. Co. of N.Y., 285 AD2d 482, 483; Tsachalis v City of Mount Vernon, 262 AD2d 399, 401; Mikinberg v Bronsther, 256 AD2d 501, 502; Matter of Validation Review Assoc. [Berkun- Schimel], 237 AD2d at 615; Wurtzel v Wurtzel, 227 AD2d 548, 549), while many of our most recent cases have avoided the "special circumstances" rubric (see e.g. Cespedes v Kraja, 70 AD3d 622; Step-Murphy, LLC v B & B Bros. Real Estate Corp., 60 AD3d 841, 843-844; Tenore v Tenore, 45 AD3d 571, 571-572; Smith v Moore, 31 AD3d 628, 629; Matter of Lutz v Goldstone, 31 AD3d 449, 450-451; Thorson v New York City Tr. Auth., 305 AD2d 666). In light of its elimination from CPLR 3101(a)(4), we disapprove further application of the "special circumstances" standard in our cases, except with respect to the limited area in which it remains in the statutory language, i.e., with regard to certain discovery from expert witnesses (see CPLR 3101[d][1][iii]). On a motion to quash a subpoena duces tecum or for a protective order, in assessing whether the circumstances or reasons for a particular demand warrant discovery from a nonparty, those circumstances and reasons need not be shown to be "special circumstances."

Whether or not our cases have applied the "special circumstances" standard, however, they contain underlying considerations which the courts may appropriately weigh in determining whether discovery from a nonparty is warranted. We look, then, to the reasoning in our cases to find guidance with respect to the circumstances and reasons which we have considered relevant to the inquiry with respect to discovery from a nonparty. Since Dioguardi, this Court has deemed a party’s inability to obtain the requested disclosure from his or her adversary or from independent sources to be a significant factor in determining the propriety of discovery from a nonparty. A motion to quash is, thus, properly granted where the party issuing the subpoena has failed to show that the disclosure sought cannot be obtained from sources other than the nonparty (see Moran v McCarthy, Safrath & Carbone, P.C., 31 AD3d at 726; Tannenbaum v Tenenbaum, 8 AD3d at 360; Lanzello v Lakritz, 287 AD2d at 601; Tsachalis v City of Mount Vernon, 262 AD2d at 401; Matter of Validation Review Assoc. [Berkun-Schimel], 237 AD2d at 615), and properly denied when the party has shown that the evidence cannot be obtained from other sources (see Cespedes v Kraja, 70 AD3d at 722; Tenore v Tenore, 45 AD3d at 571-572; Thorson v New York City Tr. Auth., 305 AD2d at 666; Bostrom v William Penn Life Ins. Co. of N.Y., 285 AD2d at 483). Our cases have not exclusively relied on this consideration, however, and have weighed other circumstances which may be relevant in the context of the particular case in determining [*6]whether discovery from a nonparty is warranted (see Abbadessa v Sprint, 291 AD2d 363 [conflict in statements between the plaintiff and nonparty witness]; Mikinberg v Bronsther, 256 AD2d at 502 [unexplained discontinuance of the action against the witness, formerly a party]; Patterson v St. Francis Ctr. at Knolls, 249 AD2d 457 [previous inconsistencies in the nonparty’s statements]).

We decline, here, to set forth a comprehensive list of circumstances or reasons which would be deemed sufficient to warrant discovery from a nonparty in every case. Circumstances necessarily vary from case to case.