STATE OF NEW YORK
       ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                         9400
 
                              2001-2002 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    August 2, 2001
                                      ___________
 
       Introduced  by  COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Gottfried)
         -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes
 
       AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to  chang-
         ing  reference  from  physician,  osteopath  or dentist to health care
         practitioner
 
         The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
       bly, do enact as follows:
 
    1    Section  1.  Rule 2106 of the civil practice law and rules, as amended
    2  by judicial conference proposal No. 3 for the year 1973, is  amended  to
    3  read as follows:
    4    Rule  2106. Affirmation of truth of statement by attorney[, physician,
    5  osteopath or dentist] or health care practitioner.  The statement of  an
    6  attorney  admitted  to  practice  in  the  courts  of the state, or of a
    7  [physician, osteopath or dentist] health care  practitioner,  authorized
    8  by  title  8 of the education law to practice in the state, who is not a
    9  party to an action, when subscribed and affirmed by him  or  her  to  be
   10  true  under  the  penalties  of  perjury,  may be served or filed in the
   11  action in lieu of and with the same force and effect as an affidavit.
   12    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
 
 
 
 
        EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD09749-01-1

 
BILL NUMBER: A9400
 
SPONSOR: Rules (Gottfried)

 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the civil practice law and rules, in
relation to changing reference from physician, osteopath or dentist to
health care practitioner
 
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:  Amends rule 2106 section 1 of the
civil practice laws and rules. Would extend to all licensed health care
practitioners to the right of affirmation of affidavits.
 
 
JUSTIFICATION:  CPLR 2106 was intended to ease the burdens of attor-
neys who, as a prerequisite to the submission of their own sworn written
statement in an action, were required under prior law to find a notary
public to administer an oath. The drafters of the CPLR determined that
the attorney's professional obligations and the possibility of prose-
cution for making a false statement provided sufficient safeguards to
dispense with the need for an appearance by the attorney before a notary
public. Thus, the attorney is authorized by CPLR 2106 to simply sign his
or her own statement and affirm its truth subject to the penalties of
perjury. Such affirmation has the same effect as an affidavit sworn to
before a notary public.
 
Similar considerations of convenience led to an amendment of the statute
in 1973 to extend the same right of affirmation to physicians, osteo-
paths and dentists, whose affidavits are also frequently required in
civil litigation. It is appropriate that this right be extended to other
practitioners.
 
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:  A6945 of 1999-2000
 
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:  None
 
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:  Immediately