Robert E. Antonacci II
How Judge Antonacci decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On summary judgment in personal-injury and medical-malpractice cases, he tends to credit a moving defendant's expert affidavit when it is detailed and addresses each claim in the bill of particulars, but several of his grants on that basis were later found by the Fourth Department to have overlooked a genuine factual dispute the opposing expert or documentary evidence actually raised -- a lawyer opposing such a motion should focus on making that competing factual dispute concrete and specific rather than merely conclusory.
“Global failed to meet its initial burden with respect to the second cause of action because the expert affidavit submitted by it was insufficient to establish that the auger 'was manufactured in accordance with industry standards in effect at the time of manufacture.'”
In Mental Hygiene Law Article 10 annual-review proceedings, he is willing to find in a committed offender's favor when the state's evidence does not adequately link a diagnosed condition to a serious difficulty controlling sexual conduct, but he must actually weigh conflicting expert testimony rather than resolve the question as a categorical rule of law -- his one such discharge grant was reversed for taking the latter, legally impermissible shortcut.
“the court did not resolve the conflict between the experts regarding ASPD and psychopathy by weighing their testimony but rather made a determination that, generally speaking and without regard to petitioner's specific case, a finding of ASPD and psychopathy can never provide a basis for a finding of mental abnormality”
He enforces the ninety-day notice-of-claim requirement against school-district plaintiffs strictly at the dismissal stage, but has also denied a late-notice-of-claim application in full even where the record showed the district had actual knowledge of at least one child's specific allegations -- the Fourth Department has twice had to grant relief he denied once actual notice was independently established.
“we conclude that the record establishes that defendants 'acquired actual knowledge of the essential facts constituting the claim' with respect to J.S. within the 90-day period”
Procedural preferences
He treats a defendant's technically-labeled motion to dismiss as a converted summary-judgment motion when the parties' own submissions argue that standard, which raises the practical evidentiary bar for the moving party -- litigants should not assume a nominal 'motion to dismiss' caption limits the record the court will consider.
“Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a cause of action and sought an award of attorney's fees and costs on the ground that the action was frivolous; defendants' affidavits submitted in support of the motion, however, stated that they were seeking summary judgment.”
On post-trial relief, he is willing to grant a defendant partial relief by ordering a new trial limited to damages (rather than liability) when a verdict is excessive but not against the weight of the evidence on fault, giving the prevailing plaintiff a stipulated-reduction option rather than an outright retrial.
“Supreme Court granted the motion in part by ordering a new trial on the issue of damages unless within 30 days of entry of the order, plaintiff consented to specific reductions of the jury's damages awards”
Motions styled as a second or successive request for reargument are treated as exactly that -- non-appealable -- rather than as a fresh vehicle to revisit an underlying order; a litigant seeking appellate review of the underlying determination needs to appeal that order directly and on time, not chase a reargument denial.
“Plaintiff filed a motion to '[r]everse [d]ecision.' The court treated the filing as another motion for leave to reargue the February order and denied plaintiff's motion”
Cautions
A meaningful share of this judge's summary-judgment and dismissal GRANTS in favor of a moving defendant in this sample were reversed on appeal -- including two grain-auger product-liability dismissals, a sexual-assault premises-liability dismissal (over a two-judge dissent), a real-estate commission dismissal, and a frivolous-litigation dismissal with an attorney's-fee award that was vacated entirely -- so a defendant who wins such a motion before him should not assume the win is durable if the plaintiff has a colorable factual dispute to press on appeal.
“the order so appealed from is unanimously reversed on the law without costs, the motion is denied, and the complaint is reinstated”
A settlement-enforcement order can be undone on a pure legal-authority ground even where the underlying facts (an email agreement between counsel) are undisputed -- his order enforcing a purported workers'-compensation lien waiver was reversed because only the Workers' Compensation Board, not the court, has statutory authority to approve such an agreement.
“the court had no authority to determine that Safety National waived its statutory lien”
His discretionary denials of late-notice-of-claim and reargument relief have been modified rather than reversed outright when the record independently established a fact (such as a municipality's actual knowledge of a claim) that the Fourth Department found decisive regardless of how the discretion was exercised below -- a partial win on appeal is a realistic outcome even against an otherwise-affirmed order in the same case.
“we modify the order in appeal No. 2 in the exercise of our discretion by granting in part plaintiffs' motion insofar as it sought leave to serve a late notice of claim with respect to the claims asserted on behalf of J.S.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Supreme Court, inter alia, determined that petitioner does not suffer from a mental abnormality as that term is defined in section 10.03 (i), granted the petition, and directed petitioner's unconditional discharge from the custody of the New York State Office of Mental Health.”
“The order, inter alia, continued the commitment of petitioner to a secure treatment facility. It is hereby ORDERED that the order so appealed from is unanimously affirmed without costs.”
“The order granted the motion of defendants for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. It is hereby ORDERED that the order so appealed from is unanimously affirmed without costs.”
“The order granted the motion of defendants to dismiss the complaint and awarded attorney's fees and costs to defendants. ... dismissing the complaint with prejudice, adjudging that the action was frivolous, and awarding defendants costs and reasonable attorney's fees.”
“The order, among other things, granted plaintiffs' motion insofar as it sought an order enforcing the terms of the purported settlement agreement between plaintiff David L. Miller and Safety National Casualty Corp. It is hereby ORDERED that the order so appealed from is unanimously reversed on the law without costs, the motion ... is denied.”
“The order denied the motion of defendant for summary judgment. It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from is unanimously affirmed without costs.”
“The judgment awarded plaintiff money damages after a nonjury trial. ... unanimously modified on the law by setting aside the verdict with respect to damages for future pain and suffering and as modified the judgment is affirmed without costs.”
“The order, among other things, denied the motion of defendant Hiroshi Kato, M.D. for summary judgment dismissing plaintiffs' complaint and any cross-claims against him. It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from is unanimously affirmed without costs.”
“Supreme Court, inter alia, ... granted those parts of the [980 James defendants'] motion with respect to the Labor Law sections 240 (1) and 241 (6) causes of action and the third-party claim for contractual indemnification ... unanimously modified on the law by denying those parts ... seeking summary judgment dismissing the Labor Law section 240 (1) cause of action and the Labor Law section 241 (6) cause of action ... and reinstating those causes of action.”
“denied plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment on the first and second causes of action as against defendants Time Cap Development Corp. and 980 James Street, LLC”
“in effect, denied Interior Builders' motion [for summary judgment dismissing the amended complaint and all cross-claims against it] ... We therefore further modify the order by granting Interior Builders' motion insofar as the 980 James defendants did not oppose it seeking summary judgment dismissing the 980 James defendants' cross-claim for contractual indemnification against it.”
“The order denied the motion of plaintiff for a default judgment and granted the cross-motion of defendants to dismiss the complaint.”
“granted the cross-motion of defendants to dismiss the complaint. ... unanimously modified on the law by denying the cross-motion in part and reinstating the complaint against defendant Ralph Sanders, and as modified the order is affirmed without costs.”
“The order granted the motion for summary judgment of defendant Global Industries, Inc. ... It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from is unanimously reversed on the law without costs, the motion ... is denied, and the complaint is reinstated against that defendant.”
“The order granted the motion for summary judgment of defendants Lea Michael Hares, Frances M. Hares and Jesse James Hares ... It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from is unanimously reversed on the law without costs, the motion ... is denied, and the complaint is reinstated against those defendants.”
Put Judge Antonacci's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Antonacci actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Antonacci's own signed orders and cites them.