## Facts

- An entertainment/production company sued another company; the defendant asserted counterclaims.
- The trial court granted the defendant partial summary judgment on certain counterclaims under CPLR 3212(e), leaving other claims and counterclaims unresolved.
- The intermediate appellate court left the partial summary judgment in place but stayed its execution to avoid prejudicing the plaintiff while the remaining matters were litigated.
- The defendant appealed, challenging the appellate court’s authority to impose a stay without a specific showing of prejudice.

## Issues

1. Whether an appellate court may stay execution of a partial summary judgment under CPLR 3212(e) absent a concrete showing that immediate execution would prejudice the non-prevailing party.
2. Whether the appellate court abused its discretion by issuing a stay based on generalized concerns that other claims and counterclaims remained pending.

## Decision

- The court reversed the intermediate appellate court’s order.
- The court vacated the stay of execution on the defendant’s partial summary judgment.
- The court held that the stay was an abuse of discretion because the record lacked a sufficient showing that immediate enforcement would prejudice the plaintiff.

## Legal Principles

- CPLR 3212(e) permits partial summary judgment and allows conditions to avoid prejudice, but any stay or condition must be grounded in identifiable facts showing a real risk of unfairness.
- An appellate court’s discretion to stay execution is broad but not unlimited; generalized concerns arising from unresolved claims are insufficient.
- Stays serve to prevent a party from being left without effective relief if a judgment is executed and later reversed; that purpose must be supported by a concrete risk (e.g., inability to obtain restitution or other practical impairment of relief).
- The existence of remaining, sufficiently independent claims or counterclaims does not alone justify delaying execution of a partial judgment.

## Conclusion

The court held that a stay of execution of a partial summary judgment cannot rest on abstract concerns about pending claims; without a specific showing of likely prejudice from immediate execution, imposing a stay is an abuse of discretion.


Robert Stigwood Organisation, Inc. v. Devon Co., 44 N.Y.2d 922 (N.Y. 1978)