Opinion
05-03-2016
In re Maria Rocio AUQUI for the Appointment of a Guardian of Jose Verdugo, An Alleged Incapacitated Person. Maria Rocio Auqui, etc., Petitioner–Appellant, v. Peachtree Funding Northeast, LLC, Respondent–Respondent. [And a Third–Party Action].
Law Offices of Annette G. Hasapidis, Mt. Kisco (Annette G. Hasapidis of counsel), for appellant. Yankwitt LLP, White Plains (Kathy S. Marks of counsel), for respondent.
Law Offices of Annette G. Hasapidis, Mt. Kisco (Annette G. Hasapidis of counsel), for appellant.
Yankwitt LLP, White Plains (Kathy S. Marks of counsel), for respondent.
Opinion Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Lottie E. Wilkins, J.), entered May 31, 2013, which denied the petition to void certain agreements between the alleged incapacitated person and respondent, pursuant to Mental Hygiene Law § 81.29(d), unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, and the petition granted. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment accordingly.
Given the undisputed medical evidence that the alleged incapacitated person (AIP) had suffered from a mental defect as a result of his 2003 accident, when he was hit on the head by a piece of plywood falling from the 50th floor of a building, the burden of proof on the issue of his competence to enter into the challenged agreements shifted to respondent, as the advocate of competency (see Matter of Kaminester v. Foldes, 51 A.D.3d 528, 859 N.Y.S.2d 412 [1st Dept.2008], lv. dismissed in part, denied in part 11 N.Y.3d 781, 866 N.Y.S.2d 604, 896 N.E.2d 90 [2008] ). In light of the ambiguous nature of the testimony of Dr. Kuhn, respondent's sole witness on this issue, respondent failed to meet its burden of showing by clear and convincing evidence that the AIP was able to act in a reasonable manner in connection with the transaction (see Ortelere v. Teachers' Retirement Bd. of City of N.Y., 25 N.Y.2d 196, 204, 303 N.Y.S.2d 362, 250 N.E.2d 460 [1969], citing Restatement, 2d, Contracts; Kaminester, 51 A.D.3d at 529, 859 N.Y.S.2d 412 ; Morales v. State of New York, 183 Misc.2d 839, 848, 705 N.Y.S.2d 176 [Ct.Cl.2000], affd. 282 A.D.2d 245, 722 N.Y.S.2d 860 [1st Dept.2001] ). That the court evaluator and an occupational therapist interviewed the AIP before and after the period when he executed the agreements does not render the evidence they gave irrelevant (see Belda v. Doerfler, No 14–CV–941 [AJN], 2015 WL 5737320, *9, 2015 U.S. Dist LEXIS 133483, *27 [S.D.N.Y. Sept. 30, 2015] ). Their observations were probative of the AIP's mental condition between the times they observed him.
TOM, J.P., RENWICK, RICHTER, KAPNICK, WEBBER, JJ., concur.