Opinion
# 2016-009-029 Claim No. 126474 Motion No. M-88515
09-23-2016
SHARON A. DARLOW v. THE STATE OF NEW YORK
NO APPEARANCE. HON. ERIC T. SCHNEIDERMAN Attorney General of the State of New York BY: Patricia A. Bordonaro, Esq., Assistant Attorney General, Of Counsel.
Synopsis
Following the issuance of an Order to Show Cause, this claim was dismissed based upon claimant's failure to serve her claim upon the Attorney General.
Case information
| UID: | 2016-009-029 |
| Claimant(s): | SHARON A. DARLOW |
| Claimant short name: | DARLOW |
| Footnote (claimant name) : | |
| Defendant(s): | THE STATE OF NEW YORK |
| Footnote (defendant name) : | |
| Third-party claimant(s): | |
| Third-party defendant(s): | |
| Claim number(s): | 126474 |
| Motion number(s): | M-88515 |
| Cross-motion number(s): | |
| Judge: | NICHOLAS V. MIDEY JR. |
| Claimant's attorney: | NO APPEARANCE. |
| Defendant's attorney: | HON. ERIC T. SCHNEIDERMAN Attorney General of the State of New York BY: Patricia A. Bordonaro, Esq., Assistant Attorney General, Of Counsel. |
| Third-party defendant's attorney: | |
| Signature date: | September 23, 2016 |
| City: | Syracuse |
| Comments: | |
| Official citation: | |
| Appellate results: | |
| See also (multicaptioned case) |
Decision
By Order to Show Cause dated May 5, 2016, this Court directed the parties to submit a statement, in writing, relating to the service of the above referenced claim, on or before July 20, 2016. Based on this directive, the Court has reviewed and considered the following papers in connection with this Order to Show Cause:
Order to Show Cause dated May 5, 2016 1
Affidavit of Janet Barringer, Office Assistant 2 in the Albany Office of the Attorney General, dated May 11, 2016 2
In her Affidavit (Item 2), Ms. Barringer states that she is familiar with the record keeping system of the Claims Bureau of the Office of the Attorney General regarding notices of intention to file claims, claims, and motions that are filed in the Court of Claims or received in that office.
Ms. Barringer states that based upon her examination of the files in the Office of the Attorney General, the only documents received were a letter from the Court of Claims acknowledging receipt of a claim titled "Darlow v State of New York" on July 22, 2015, and the above referenced Order to Show Cause advising that this motion was returnable on July 20, 2016. Based upon her review, Ms. Barringer further states that she has found no record that a claim, notice of intention and/or motion in this matter was ever served upon the Attorney General.
In order to properly commence an action in the Court of Claims, a claim must be both filed with the Clerk of the Court of Claims and served upon the Attorney General (Court of Claims Act § 10). Service upon the Attorney General must be made by either personal service or by certified mail, return receipt requested (Court of Claims Act § 11 [a] [i]). These service requirements are jurisdictional in nature (Dreger v New York State Thruway Auth., 81 NY2d 721 [1992]; Lichtenstein v State of New York, 93 NY2d 911 [1999]). A party's failure to comply with these requirements deprives the Court of jurisdiction to hear the claim (Finnerty v New York State Thruway Auth., 75 NY2d 721 [1989]; Cudjoe v State of New York, 4 AD3d 322 [2d Dept 2004]).
Based upon the above, the Court hereby finds that defendant has established to the satisfaction of this Court that claimant failed to serve claim No. 126474 upon the Attorney General. As a result, this Court does not have jurisdiction over the claim and it must be dismissed.
Accordingly, based upon the foregoing, it is
ORDERED, that claim No. 126474 is hereby DISMISSED.
September 23, 2016
Syracuse, New York
NICHOLAS V. MIDEY JR.
Judge of the Court of Claims