The Second Department just reversed a Kings County order that opened up a bus operator's personnel file, the policy manual, and four more defense depositions. 

In Lewis v. New York City Transit Authority (2026), the decedent was killed in a January 2020 accident involving an MTA bus. The Supreme Court granted the plaintiff's CPLR 3124 motion to compel and ordered four additional defense witnesses produced. Defendants appealed. The court held three things. 

1. First, defendants admitted the operator was acting within the scope of his employment. That took his personnel file and the retention and training portions of the manual out of discovery. Plaintiff also failed to show that the rest of the manual was material and necessary. 
2. Second, a demand for "all documents" regarding the bus operator's duties and hours that week failed on relevance. It also lacked "sufficient particularity." 
3. Third, the additional depositions failed both prongs. Plaintiff never showed that the witnesses already produced were inadequate, nor that the new witnesses had material and necessary information. 

Why it matters for defense counsel: 

• Put the scope of admission on the record early. It shuts down the negligent-hiring theory and personnel-file discovery.
• Object to "all documents" demands particularity, not just relevance.
• The corporation picks its witness first. Make the plaintiff prove your witness was inadequate before you produce the foreman, the project manager, and the safety manager.