Matter of Bruzzese v. Woods

2017 NY Slip Op 8662, 156 A.D.3d 693, 64 N.Y.S.3d 925, 2017 WL 6347257

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: December 13, 2017
• Docket: 2017-10843
• Status: Published

Opinion

Proceeding, inter alia, in effect, pursuant to CPLR article 78 in the nature of mandamus to compel the respondent, an acting Justice of the Supreme Court, Orange County, to comply with a decision and order of this Court dated July 12, 2017 (Bruzzese v Bruzzese, 152 AD3d 563 [2017]), deciding appeals from, among other things, two orders of that court, both dated August 24, 2015, and a judgment of that court dated August 25, 2015, and application by the petitioner for poor person relief.

Ordered that the application for poor person relief is granted to the extent that the filing fee imposed by CPLR 8022 (b) is waived, and the application for poor person relief is otherwise denied as academic; and it is further,

Adjudged that the petition is denied and the proceeding is dismissed on the merits, without costs or disbursements.

The extraordinary remedy of mandamus will lie only to compel the performance of a ministerial act, and only where there exists a clear legal right to the relief sought {see Matter of Legal Aid Socy. of Sullivan County v Scheinman, 53 NY2d 12, 16 [1981]). The petitioner has failed to demonstrate a clear legal right to the relief sought.

The petitioner’s remaining contentions are without merit.

Austin, J.P., Roman, Sgroi and Brathwaite Nelson, JJ., concur.