In People v. Lomax, 50 NY2d 351, 406 N.E.2d 793, 428 NYS2d 937 (1980), the Court of Appeals held that "there can only be one criminal action for each set of criminal charges brought against a particular defendant, notwithstanding the fact, the original accusatory instrument may be replaced or superceded during the course of the action. This is so even in cases such as this, where the original accusatory instrument was dismissed outright and the defendant was subsequently hauled into court under an entirely new instrument" (People v. Lomax, 50 NY2d at 356). The Court of Appeals in Lomax noted that a criminal action is to have "continuity" even though the issuance of successive accusatory instruments, and that, if there can be only one criminal action for any given set of criminal charges, there can also be only one commencement date, "on which the first accusatory paper is filed" (see, People v. Lomax, 50 NY2d at 351).