KNAPP

The plaintiff, Sayed Hoq, brought a motion to correct the names of "John Doe" and "Jane Doe" defendants to Lakhwant Singh and CWH Distribution Services Inc. o/a CW Henderson Distribution, respectively, in a multi-vehicle automobile accident claim.

The motion was brought under Rule 5.04(2) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, which allows for correction of incorrectly named parties if there is no non-compensable prejudice.

The court applied the "litigation finger" test, finding the original pleading sufficiently particular for the proposed defendants to know they were the intended targets.

Despite a six-year delay, the court found no non-compensable prejudice, dismissing arguments regarding lost records as speculative and not prejudicial to the defendants.

The motion to correct names was granted.

This motion concerned the scope of documentary discovery in a defamation action.

The defendant sought to compel the plaintiff to produce documents related to prior arrests, hospitalizations, a diversion program, communications with Columbia University, and employment/health records, arguing relevance to justification and mitigation of damages.

The court dismissed the defendant's motion, holding that the requested documents went beyond the narrow scope of documentary discovery permitted in defamation cases, particularly when justification is pleaded.

The court emphasized that a defendant cannot embark on a "fishing expedition" to buttress general allegations or to impugn the plaintiff's character and credibility through unrelated past incidents, especially when such incidents were not known to the defendant at the time of the alleged defamation or properly pleaded for mitigation.