Opinion
10458 Index 160157/16
12-03-2019
In re The CENTER FOR DISCOVERY, INC., Petitioner–Respondent, v. NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, Respondent–Appellant.
Georgia M. Pestana, Acting Corporation Counsel, New York (Barbara Graves–Poller of counsel), for appellant. Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP, Garden City (Robert L. Schonfeld of counsel), for respondent.
Georgia M. Pestana, Acting Corporation Counsel, New York (Barbara Graves–Poller of counsel), for appellant.
Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP, Garden City (Robert L. Schonfeld of counsel), for respondent.
Friedman, J.P., Oing, Singh, Moulton, JJ.
Order and judgment (one paper), Supreme Court, New York County (Lynn R. Kotler, J.), entered January 31, 2019, inter alia, granting the petition seeking to annul a determination of respondent dated August 18, 2016, which refused to reimburse petitioner for all of the services it was providing to the subject student and directing respondent to reimburse petitioner for such services, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
The New York State Education Department and the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities are not necessary parties to this article 78 proceeding ( CPLR 1001[a] ; see Matter of Samy F. v. Fabrizio , 176 A.D.3d 44, 48, 110 N.Y.S.3d 26 [1st Dept. 2019] ). Petitioner in this proceeding seeks no relief as against either of those agencies, and those agencies will not be equitably affected by the disposition of this petition.
The court properly determined that the relevant New York State Education Department regulations required respondent, not petitioner, to arrange for the appropriate special education programs and services to be provided, which includes either arranging for or providing the funding for such services ( 8 NYCRR 200.2 [d][1]; Matter of Center for Discovery, Inc. v. NYC Dept. of Educ. , 162 A.D.3d 83, 87, 76 N.Y.S.3d 540 [1st Dept. 2018] ).