Order, Supreme Court, New York County, entered on April 2, 1970, denying motion to punish for contempt unanimously reversed, on the law and the facts, the motion granted and the matter remanded to Special Term to assess fine. Appellants shall recover of respondents $30 costs and disbursements of this appeal. It is directed that this action and the action in Appeal No. 2918 ( Matter of Wollman v. Littman, 35 A.D.2d 935) be tried together, but not consolidated. Plaintiffs obtained three separate orders to allow them to take an inventory of their goods presently located on defendants' premises. By a series of obstructionist tactics defendants succeeded in preventing the independent auditing concern retained by plaintiffs from making any progress in carrying out the audit. It is unnecessary to detail the steps by which it was made virtually impossible to get to see the goods, or even to begin to inventory them. The feeble excuses that defendants were not required to facilitate the inventory or to take any steps that might possibly interfere with their own business practice do not justify their contumacious refusal to comply with the orders. Respondents should be made to pay the extra cost accruing as a result of their conduct, and the matter remanded to determine the amount. If, as a result of further application respondents fail to afford access for an audit, an application to strike the offending defendants' answer could be made.
Concur — Stevens, P.J., Capozzoli, Nunez, McNally and Steuer, JJ.