Trapp-White v. Fountain

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York

Trapp-White v. Fountain

2017 NY Slip Op 948, 147 A.D.3d 466, 46 N.Y.S.3d 595

CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York

DecidedFebruary 7, 2017

Docket3044 150719/15

StatusPublished

This text of 2017 NY Slip Op 948 (Trapp-White v. Fountain) 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

Trapp-White v. Fountain, 2017 NY Slip Op 948, 147 A.D.3d 466, 46 N.Y.S.3d 595 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2017).

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Opinion

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Donna M. Mills, J.), entered on or about October 1, 2015, which denied defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint, unanimously modified, on the law, to grant the motion to the extent the complaint seeks damages for emotional distress or mental anguish, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff, who ultimately was granted a green card and permitted to return to the United States, inter alia alleges that defendants’ failure to file a motion to reopen for over a year caused her to be deported and denied permission to return to the United States for almost two years, which caused her to lose her job. Accepting plaintiff’s allegations as true on this motion to dismiss pursuant to CPLR 3211 they sufficiently state a legal malpractice claim (see Lappin v Greenberg, 34 AD3d 277 [1st Dept 2006]).

However plaintiff failed to state a claim for emotional distress because the damages alleged are not pecuniary in nature (see Dombrowski v Bulson, 19 NY3d 347, 351, 352 [2012]), and the pleadings fail to allege the requisite extreme and outrageous conduct (see Hyman v Schwartz, 127 AD3d 1281, 1283-1284 [3d Dept 2015]; see also Wolkstein v Morgenstern, 275 AD2d 635, 636-637 [1st Dept 2000]).

Concur — Friedman, J.P., Andrias, Moskowitz, Kapnick and Kahn, JJ.

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Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Donna M. Mills, J.), entered on or about October 1, 2015, which denied defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint, unanimously modified, on the law, to grant the motion to the extent the complaint seeks damages for emotional distress or mental anguish, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff, who ultimately was granted a green card and permitted to return to the United States, inter alia alleges that defendants’ failure to file a motion to reopen for over a year caused her to be deported and denied permission to return to the United States for almost two years, which caused her to lose her job. Accepting plaintiff’s allegations as true on this motion to dismiss pursuant to CPLR 3211 they sufficiently state a legal malpractice claim (see Lappin v Greenberg, 34 AD3d 277 [1st Dept 2006]).

However plaintiff failed to state a claim for emotional distress because the damages alleged are not pecuniary in nature (see Dombrowski v Bulson, 19 NY3d 347, 351, 352 [2012]), and the pleadings fail to allege the requisite extreme and outrageous conduct (see Hyman v Schwartz, 127 AD3d 1281, 1283-1284 [3d Dept 2015]; see also Wolkstein v Morgenstern, 275 AD2d 635, 636-637 [1st Dept 2000]).

Concur — Friedman, J.P., Andrias, Moskowitz, Kapnick and Kahn, JJ.

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Bluebook (online)

2017 NY Slip Op 948, 147 A.D.3d 466, 46 N.Y.S.3d 595, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trapp-white-v-fountain-nyappdiv-2017.

Opinion

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