Opinion
No. 2024-03444 Index No. 707938/24
05-09-2024
In the Matter of Vivian E. Cook, etc., et al., petitioners- respondents, v. Latoya R. Benjamin, appellant, et al., respondent.
MARK C. DILLON, J.P. FRANCESCA E. CONNOLLY, JOSEPH J. MALTESE, WILLIAM G. FORD, BARRY E. WARHIT, JJ.
DECISION & ORDER
In a proceeding pursuant to Election Law § 16-102, inter alia, to invalidate a petition designating Latoya R. Benjamin as a candidate in a primary election to be held on June 25, 2024, for the nomination of the Democratic Party as its candidate for the public office of Member of the New York State Assembly for the 32nd Assembly District, Latoya R. Benjamin appeals from a final order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Joseph Risi, J.), entered May 3, 2024. The final order, insofar as appealed from, granted the petition, inter alia, to invalidate the designating petition.
ORDERED that the final order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, without costs or disbursements, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Queens County, for further proceedings on the petition, inter alia, to invalidate the designating petition, to be conducted forthwith.
On April 13, 2024, the petitioners commenced this proceeding pursuant to Election Law § 16-102, inter alia, to invalidate a petition designating Latoya R. Benjamin as a candidate in a primary election to be held on June 25, 2024, for the nomination of the Democratic Party as its candidate for the public office of Member of the New York State Assembly for the 32nd Assembly District. The petitioners named Benjamin and the Board of Elections in the City of New York as respondents. On April 25, 2024, Benjamin filed an answer. In a final order entered May 3, 2024, the Supreme Court, among other things, granted the petition, inter alia, to invalidate the designating petition on the basis of a purported admission made by Benjamin in her answer. Benjamin appeals.
"Facts admitted by a party's pleadings constitute formal judicial admissions" (Zegarowicz v Ripatti, 77 A.D.3d 650, 653; see Bank of N.Y. Mellon v Gordon, 171 A.D.3d 197, 211). "Formal judicial admissions are conclusive of the facts admitted in the action in which they are made" (Zegarowicz v Ripatti, 77 A.D.3d at 653). "To constitute a judicial admission, a statement must be 'deliberate, clear, and unequivocal'" (Bank of N.Y. Mellon v Gordon, 171 A.D.3d at 211, quoting Rahman v Smith, 40 A.D.3d 613, 615). "An admission in an answer, notwithstanding a denial therein, can always be taken as some evidence against the person making the admission" (Kraus v Birnbaum, 200 NY 130, 137).
Under the particular circumstances of this case, the Supreme Court erred in determining that a statement in Benjamin's answer was, in effect, a formal judicial admission. The statement admitting to certain allegations in the petition, inter alia, to invalidate was inconsistent with the statement denying the remaining allegations in the petition, inter alia, to invalidate and, therefore, was not "deliberate, clear, and unequivocal" (Bank of N.Y. Mellon v Gordon, 171 A.D.3d at 211 [internal quotation marks omitted]; see generally People v Brown, 98 N.Y.2d 226, 233).
Accordingly, we remit the matter to the Supreme Court, Queens County, for further proceedings on the petition, inter alia, to invalidate the designating petition, to be conducted forthwith.
DILLON, J.P., CONNOLLY, MALTESE, FORD and WARHIT, JJ., concur.