Hudson v. State

35 Misc. 3d 241, 937 N.Y.S.2d 529
CourtNew York Court of Claims
DecidedNovember 28, 2011
DocketClaim No. 114628
StatusPublished

This text of 35 Misc. 3d 241 (Hudson v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hudson v. State, 35 Misc. 3d 241, 937 N.Y.S.2d 529 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2011).

Opinion

[194]*194OPINION OF THE COURT

Christopher J. McCarthy, J.

For the reasons set forth below, defendant’s motion pursuant to CPLR 2221 (a) and (d), for reargument, and claimant’s cross motion for reargument of this court’s prior decision and order (Hudson v State of New York, Ct Cl, Feb. 10, 2011, McCarthy, J., claim No. 114628, motion Nos. M-78995, CM-79141, [2011-040-009]), are granted. Upon reargument, the prior decision and order is modified. The State’s motion for renewal pursuant to CPLR 2221 (e) is denied.

The claim asserts that claimant was falsely imprisoned by defendant as a result of the improper calculation of his sentence by the Department of Correctional Services (hereinafter DOCS).1 The claim asserts that, on February 26, 1993, claimant pleaded guilty to robbery in the first degree. On March 24, 1993, he was sentenced to an indeterminate term of imprisonment of between 10 and 20 years by Supreme Court Justice Harold Roth-wax. At the time of the sentence, claimant was on parole, having been convicted previously of a felony. His prior undischarged indeterminate sentence for that felony was to have ended on June 27, 1998. Despite the prior felony conviction, Justice Roth-wax did not sentence claimant as a prior felony offender, nor did he specify that the sentence for the robbery was to run consecutively to claimant’s prior undischarged sentence. Thus, claimant contends that, by operation of Penal Law § 70.25 (1) (a), claimant’s robbery sentence was required to be served concurrently with the prison time he owed on his prior felony sentence (claim ¶ 17). He began serving the robbery sentence on April 30, 1993. On May 3, 1993, DOCS produced a “legal date computation” sheet for claimant’s robbery sentence indicating claimant’s release date was set for September 1, 2005 (id. ¶ 19). In a subsequent legal date computation, DOCS set claimant’s release date at March 3, 2009. The claim asserts that DOCS “evidently assumed” that claimant’s second sentence was to be served consecutively to the first sentence (id. ¶ 21). In May 2006, claimant brought “this error” to the attention of DOCS Deputy Commissioner and Counsel Anthony J. Annucci and requested that he correct the sentencing calculation and release him (id. ¶¶ 22-23). This was not done. On September 8, 2006, [195]*195claimant brought the matter to the attention of Joan M. Pauley, Inmate Records Coordinator at Otisville Correctional Facility in Otisville, New York, requesting that the sentencing calculations be corrected and further that he be released. Again, nothing was done (id. ¶¶ 25-27). Claimant contacted Prisoners’ Legal Services, which contacted Mr. Annucci and, on March 20, 2007, “Mr. Annucci acknowledged in writing that DOCS had erred” (id. ¶ 29). Claimant’s sentence was recalculated, the release date of September 1, 2005 was restored, and claimant was directed to be released immediately. He was released on March 22, 2007, almost 19 months late (id. ¶ 31). It is asserted that the claim for false imprisonment accrued on that date and that claimant, acting pro se, served two notices of intention upon the Attorney General by certified mail, return receipt requested. One was received on April 25, 2007 and the second on June 1, 2007 (id. ¶¶ 5-6).

Claimant’s motion (M-78995) for partial summary judgment as to liability was denied on the basis that claimant failed to establish that he was entitled to judgment as a matter of law and the State’s cross motion (CM-79141) was denied on the basis that defendant failed to submit copies of the pleadings in support of its cross motion.

A motion for reargument, addressed to the discretion of the court, is designed to afford a party an opportunity to establish that the court overlooked or misapprehended the relevant facts or misapplied the controlling principle of law (Matter of Anthony J. Carter, DDS, P.C. v Carter, 81 AD3d 819, 820 [2d Dept 2011]; Adderley v State of New York, 35 AD3d 1043, 1043 [3d Dept 2006]). Its purpose is not to serve as a vehicle to permit an unsuccessful party to argue once again the very questions previously decided (Fosdick v Town of Hempstead, 126 NY 651, 652 [1891]; Matter of Anthony J. Carter, DDS, EC. v Carter, 81 AD3d at 820). If such a motion contains new proof, it is a “renewal” motion, rather than a “reargument” motion, and should be treated as such (Connors, Practice Commentaries, McKinney’s Cons Laws of NY, Book 7B, CPLR C2221:7, at 282; CPLR C2221:9, at 287). An application for leave to renew must be based upon newly discovered material facts that existed at the time the prior motion was made but which were not then known to the party seeking leave to renew, as well as a justifiable excuse for failing to present such facts to the court in connection with the initial motion (Trump on the Ocean, LLC v State of New York, 79 AD3d 1325, 1326-1327 [3d Dept 2010]; Tibbits v Verizon N.Y., Inc., 40 AD3d 1300, 1302-1303 [3d Dept 2007]).

[196]*196Upon a review of defendant’s motion papers, counsel’s affirmation in support of the motion and exhibits attached thereto, claimant’s cross motion papers, counsel’s affirmation in support of claimant’s cross motion and in opposition to defendant’s motion and exhibits attached thereto, and the court’s decision upon the original motion, and, upon due deliberation, the State’s motion for renewal is denied as defendant has not come forward with any new facts which existed at the time the prior motion was made but which were not then known to defendant, or a justifiable excuse for not having presented them to the court at the time the original motion was made (Trump on the Ocean, LLC v State of New York, 79 AD3d 1325 [2010], supra; Tibbits v Verizon N.Y, Inc., 40 AD3d 1300 [2007], supra).

The motion and cross motion for reargument are granted and, upon reargument, the court’s prior decision and order are modified as set forth below.

The court grants claimant’s cross motion for reargument, as claimant is correct that the court denied claimant’s motion for summary judgment “on a negligence claim Claimant had never made, while overlooking the false imprisonment claim he had made” (affirmation of Joel B. Rudin, Esq. ¶ 3).

The court also grants defendant’s motion for reargument. The court denied defendant’s summary judgment motion on the ground that the cross motion was not supported by a copy of the pleadings as required by CPLR 3212 (b). As pointed out by defense counsel, the failure to include pleadings may be excused by the court if the record is sufficiently complete to address the merits (Crossett v Wing Farm, Inc., 79 AD3d 1334, 1335 [3d Dept 2010]; Sanacore v Sanacore, 74 AD3d 1468, 1469 [3d Dept 2010]; Greene v Wood, 6 AD3d 976, 977 [3d Dept 2004]). As all the pleadings were provided by claimant in his submission on his motion for summary judgment, the court grants defendant’s motion for reargument and will consider defendant’s summary judgment motion.

These motions were originally returnable on April 27, 2011. The court held a telephone conference with the parties on June 30, 2011, and adjourned the motions to September 7, 2011, to allow the parties to discuss the possible impact, if any, of the then-recent Court of Appeals decision in Donald v State of New York (17 NY3d 389 [2011]) on the motions.

In Donald,

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Bluebook (online)
35 Misc. 3d 241, 937 N.Y.S.2d 529, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hudson-v-state-nyclaimsct-2011.