Matter of Rivera v. Berlin

141 A.D.3d 423, 33 N.Y.S.3d 891

Opinion

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Donna M. Mills, J.), entered April 8, 2015, which, upon renewal, denied petitioner’s motion for an award of attorney’s fees pursuant to CPLR article 86, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

In this CPLR article 78 proceeding, petitioner, inter alia, sought to compel respondent New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) to comply with respondent New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance’s (OTDA) direction that it redetermine petitioner’s eligibility for public assistance benefits and food stamps and/or restore any lost benefits retroactively. Petitioner had successfully challenged HRA’s determinations at four fair hearings before OTDA, but was unable to secure HRA’s compliance with OTDA’s decisions after fair hearing until this lawsuit. While this lawsuit prompted HRA to change its position, it had no such effect on OTDA, which had consistently sided with petitioner. Therefore, she is not entitled to an award of attorney’s fees under New York’s Equal Access to Justice Act (CPLR art 86) (see Matter of Solla v Berlin, 24 NY3d 1192, 1195 [2015]; see also Hernandez v Hammons, 98 NY2d 735 [2002]).

Concur — Sweeny, J.P., Acosta, Feinman, Kapnick and Kahn, JJ.