Opinion
9869N Index 350014/17
07-11-2019
Sarah ASHKENAZI, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. Eliyahu ASHKENAZI, Defendant. Hoffer Kaback, Nonparty Appellant.
Hoffer Kaback, New York, for appellant. The Nelson Law Office P.C., Baldwin (Kimberly I. Nelson of counsel), for respondent.
Hoffer Kaback, New York, for appellant.
The Nelson Law Office P.C., Baldwin (Kimberly I. Nelson of counsel), for respondent.
Friedman, J.P., Richter, Tom, Oing, Moulton, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Lori S. Sattler, J.), entered August 1, 2018, which, inter alia, denied the application of nonparty Hoffer Kaback, Esq., for pendente lite counsel fees, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
The court providently exercised its discretion by denying Kaback's request for additional counsel fees, purportedly incurred during his 11–month representation of defendant husband (see Domestic Relations Law § 237[a] ; DeCabrera v. Cabrera–Rosete , 70 N.Y.2d 879, 881, 524 N.Y.S.2d 176, 518 N.E.2d 1168 [1987] ). Plaintiff had already voluntarily paid $15,000 to Kaback, and the record shows that the marriage lasted less than three years; the legal issues addressed were not complex; the parties had just one court appearance; there were limited settlement negotiations; and there was no other motion practice and scant discovery. Furthermore, Kaback's time records contain dubious entries (see Johnson v. Chapin , 12 N.Y.3d 461, 467, 881 N.Y.S.2d 373, 909 N.E.2d 66 [2009] ; Tatum v. Simmons , 133 A.D.3d 550, 21 N.Y.S.3d 208 [1st Dept. 2015] ).