Opinion
June 1, 1999.
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Jane Solomon, J.).
Given plaintiff's reliance upon the erroneous advice of his Maryland bankruptcy counsel as to the effect of the automatic stay provisions of the Bankruptcy Code ( 11 U.S.C. § 362 [a] [1]), as well as the other circumstances presented, it was an improvident exercise of discretion to deny plaintiff's request for a short continuance in the midst of trial and to dismiss the complaint, essentially on the ground of abandonment. Inasmuch as the matter is being remanded for a new trial, we deem it advisable that it be assigned to a different Justice.
Concur — Williams, J. P., Wallach, Andrias and Saxe, JJ.