Opinion
2001-09578
Submitted September 20, 2002.
October 15, 2002.
In a matrimonial action in which the parties were divorced by judgment entered June 27, 1995, the defendant former wife appeals from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Marano, J.), dated September 4, 2001, as denied her motion for leave to enter a money judgment for maintenance arrears and for an award of an attorney's fee on the grounds of res judicata and collateral estoppel.
Allan S. Botter, Lake Success, N.Y. (Paula Schwartz Frome of counsel), for appellant.
John E. Lawlor, Mineola, N.Y., for respondent.
Before: CORNELIUS J. O'BRIEN, J.P., GABRIEL M. KRAUSMAN, SANDRA L. TOWNES, BARRY A. COZIER, JJ.
ORDERED that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Nassau County, for a determination of the motion on the merits.
Under the circumstances of this case, the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel are not applicable (see Buechel v. Bain, 97 N.Y.2d 295, 303; Ryan v. New York Tel. Co., 62 N.Y.2d 494, 500; Matter of Dyandria M. v. Gerard M., 278 A.D.2d 37).
O'BRIEN, J.P., KRAUSMAN, TOWNES and COZIER, JJ., concur.