Maybaum v. Maybaum

89 A.D.3d 692, 933 N.Y.2d 43
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedNovember 1, 2011
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 89 A.D.3d 692 (Maybaum v. Maybaum) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maybaum v. Maybaum, 89 A.D.3d 692, 933 N.Y.2d 43 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

[693]*693The defendant wife and the plaintiff husband were married on March 13, 1995. Two children were born of the marriage.

In April 2010, the defendant commenced a proceeding pursuant to article 8 of the Family Court Act, alleging that the plaintiff committed certain family offenses. Thereafter, the plaintiff commenced this action for a divorce and ancillary relief on the ground of cruel and inhuman treatment. On April 27, 2010, the parties appeared before the Family Court, Westchester County, and entered into a stipulation on the record. In effect, the parties stipulated that the defendant was withdrawing the pending family offense petition, with prejudice, in exchange for the plaintiff giving the defendant exclusive use of the marital residence. The parties agreed that the stipulation was binding in the action for a divorce pending in the Supreme Court.

[694]*694Subsequently, the defendant answered the complaint in this action and asserted a counterclaim for a divorce and ancillary relief on the ground of cruel and inhuman treatment. In reply, the plaintiff asserted affirmative defenses, including, as a third affirmative defense, that the defendant’s counterclaim was insufficiently specific to meet the requirements of CPLR 3016 (c), and, as a fourth affirmative defense, that the counterclaim was barred, in whole or in part, by the doctrines of res judicata, collateral estoppel, and equitable estoppel, based on the stipulation between the parties.

The parties made several motions and cross motions for relief. The Supreme Court, inter alia, denied that branch of the defendant’s motion which was to direct the plaintiff to make payments to a certain school, denied those branches of the defendant’s cross motion which were pursuant to CPLR 3211 (b) to dismiss the first, third, and fourth affirmative defenses asserted in the plaintiffs reply to her counterclaim, and pursuant to the Rules of the Chief Administrator of the Courts (22 NYCRR) § 130-1.1 to impose sanctions on the plaintiff and/or the plaintiffs attorney, and granted those branches of the plaintiffs motion which were to strike stated paragraphs of the defendant’s counterclaim on the grounds of res judicata, collateral estoppel, and equitable estoppel, to strike stated paragraphs of the defendant’s counterclaim, in effect, as time-barred, and to strike stated paragraphs of her counterclaim for lack of specificity, and thereupon directed her to file an amended counterclaim. In addition, the Supreme Court, inter alia, denied those branches of the plaintiffs motion which were to hold the defendant in civil contempt for her failure to provide an accurate statement of net worth, pursuant to the Rules of the Chief Administrator of the Courts (22 NYCRR) § 130-1.1 to impose sanctions on the defendant and/or the defendant’s attorney, and pursuant to CPLR 3126 to preclude the defendant from contesting the imputation of income to her. The defendant appeals and the plaintiff cross-appeals. We modify.

The Supreme Court erred in granting that branch of the plaintiffs motion which was to strike stated paragraphs of the defendant’s counterclaim on the grounds of res judicata, collateral estoppel, and equitable estoppel. The allegations in the defendant’s counterclaim for a divorce on the ground of cruel and inhuman treatment, and the allegations in the plaintiffs family offense petition, did not arise out of the same transaction or series of transactions. “It is not always clear whether particular claims are part of the same transaction for res judicata purposes. A ‘pragmatic’ test has been applied to make this determina[695]*695tion — analyzing ‘whether the facts are related in time, space, origin, or motivation, whether they form a convenient trial unit, and whether their treatment as a unit conforms to the parties’ expectations or business understanding or usage’ ” (Xiao Yang Chen v Fischer, 6 NY3d 94, 100-101 [2005], quoting Restatement [Second] of Judgments § 24 [2]; see Smith v Russell Sage Coll., 54 NY2d 185, 192-193 [1981]). Applying this test, we conclude that the family offense petition and counterclaim for a divorce on the ground of cruel and inhuman treatment do not form a convenient trial unit. Thus, the defendant is not precluded from litigating her counterclaim for a divorce on the ground of cruel and inhuman treatment in the separate action in the Supreme Court.

“Collateral estoppel, or issue preclusion, ‘precludes a party from relitigating in a subsequent action or proceeding an issue clearly raised in a prior action or proceeding and decided against that party . . . , whether or not the tribunals or causes of action are the same’ ” (Parker v Blauvelt Volunteer Fire Co., 93 NY2d 343, 349 [1999], quoting Ryan v New York Tel. Co., 62 NY2d 494, 500 [1984]). “The doctrine applies if the issue in the second action is identical to an issue which was raised, necessarily decided and material in the first action, and the plaintiff had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue in the earlier action” (Parker v Blauvelt Volunteer Fire Co., 93 NY2d at 349). “ [Collateral estoppel effect will only be given to matters actually litigated and determined in a prior action” (Kaufman v Eli Lilly & Co., 65 NY2d 449, 456 [1985] [internal quotation marks omitted]). “An issue is not actually litigated if, for example, there has been a default, a confession of liability, a failure to place a matter in issue by proper pleading or even because of a stipulation” (id. at 456-457). Here, the issue of whether the plaintiff committed certain acts against the defendant was never determined in the Family Court proceeding, and the defendant’s participation in the stipulation to withdraw her family offense petition, with prejudice, cannot be construed to be the kind of determination following a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issues that would be necessary to collaterally estop the defendant from establishing that the plaintiff committed the alleged acts (see North Shore-Long Is. Jewish Health Sys., Inc. v Aetna US Healthcare, Inc., 27 AD3d 439, 440-441 [2006]; Singleton Mgt. v Compere, 243 AD2d 213, 216-218 [1998]).

Further, “[t]he circumstances set forth by plaintiff simply do not rise to a level of unconscionability warranting application of equitable estoppel” (American Bartenders School v 105 Madison Co., 59 NY2d 716, 718 [1983]; see Geller v Reuben Gittelman Hebrew Day School, 34 AD3d 730, 731-732 [2006]).

[696]*696Since the doctrines of res judicata, collateral estoppel, and equitable estoppel do not preclude the defendant from litigating certain of the allegations in her counterclaim that were alleged in her family offense petition, the Supreme Court should have granted that branch of the defendant’s cross motion which was pursuant to CPLR 3211 (b) to dismiss the plaintiffs fourth affirmative defense alleging that the defendant’s counterclaim was barred in whole or in part by the doctrines of res judicata, collateral estoppel, and equitable estoppel, as that defense has no merit.

The Supreme Court further erred in granting that branch of the plaintiffs motion which was to strike stated paragraphs of the defendant’s counterclaim, in effect, as time-barred on the ground they alleged acts occurring more than five years prior to the commencement of the action.

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Bluebook (online)
89 A.D.3d 692, 933 N.Y.2d 43, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maybaum-v-maybaum-nyappdiv-2011.