Welton Becket Associates v. LLJV Development Corp.

—Order (denominated a judgment), Supreme Court, New York County (Beverly Cohen, J.), entered May 3, 1995, which denied petitioners’ motion for leave to conduct certain additional pre-arbitration discovery and for leave to amend their petition, unanimously affirmed, with costs.

The relevant issue to be pursued at the pre-arbitration hearing is the framed issue, which is whether "various of the petitioners may be bound by the arbitration agreement by reason of being the signatory’s alter egos, successors and/or assigns”, as to which "a hearing, and attendant disclosure, is needed in order to determine the relevant relationships and, ultimately, the proper parties to the arbitration” ( 193 AD2d 478 ). The IAS Court properly gave law of the case effect to our prior ruling in barring petitioners’ efforts to explore additional issues (cf., Wilson v McCarthy, 53 AD2d 860 ). Denial of leave to amend was a proper exercise of the court’s discretion (see, Branch v Abraham & Strauss Dept. Store, 220 AD2d 474 ). We have considered petitioners’ remaining arguments and find them to be without merit. Concur — Murphy, P. J., Sullivan, Rubin, Ross and Tom, JJ.