Opinion
Argued January 24, 2000
March 9, 2000
In an action pursuant to Human Rights Law article 15 to recover damages for sexual harassment, the defendant Chase Manhattan Bank appeals from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Jones, J.), dated March 11, 1999, as granted that branch of the plaintiffs' motion which was to dismiss the fourth and sixth affirmative defenses contained in its answer.
Michael A. Pearce, New York, N.Y. (Meryl R. Kaynard of counsel), for appellant.
Douglas M. Soffey, Garden City, N.Y., for respondents.
WILLIAM C. THOMPSON, J.P., SANDRA J. FEUERSTEIN, ROBERT W. SCHMIDT, NANCY E. SMITH, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs, and that branch of the plaintiffs' motion which was to dismiss the appellant's fourth and sixth affirmative defenses is denied.
Upon a motion to dismiss a defense, a defendant is entitled to the benefit of every reasonable intendment of the pleading, which is to be liberally construed (see, Abney v. Lunsford, 254 A.D.2d 318 ). If there is any doubt as to the availability of a defense, it should not be dismissed (see, Becker v. Elm Air Conditioning Corp., 143 A.D.2d 965 ; Duboff v. Board of Higher Educ. of City of N.Y., 34 A.D.2d 824 ). Affording the appellant every reasonable intendment of the pleading, dismissal of the fourth and sixth affirmative defenses was improper under the circumstances.
THOMPSON, J.P., FEUERSTEIN, SCHMIDT, and SMITH, JJ., concur.