Opinion
2014-10-14
Margaret M. DeJESUS, Petitioner–Appellant, v. Raymond KELLY, etc., et al., Respondents–Respondents.
John P. Rudden, New York, for appellant. Zachary W. Carter, Corporation Counsel, New York (Inga Van Eysden of counsel), for respondents.
John P. Rudden, New York, for appellant. Zachary W. Carter, Corporation Counsel, New York (Inga Van Eysden of counsel), for respondents.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Carol E. Huff, J.), entered October 19, 2012, denying the petition to annul respondents' determination dated August 24, 2011, which denied petitioner's applications for accidental disability and ordinary disability retirement benefits and dismissing the proceeding brought pursuant to CPLR article 78, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, and the matter remanded to respondent Board of Trustees for further proceedings consistent herewith.
The record does not demonstrate that the presidents of the Captain's Endowment Association (CEA) and the Sergeant's Benevolent Association (SBA) properly designated representatives to act in their absence in connection with the August 11, 2010 vote denying petitioner's applications for accidental and ordinary disability benefits, or that the individuals from the CEA and the SBA who were present at the meeting were authorized to vote ( see Administrative Code of City of N.Y. § 13–216[a][1–12], [d] ). The record is also unclear as to the vote of the Detective Endowment Association, which appeared to have two representatives present.Although the Board of Trustees is entitled to rely on the judgment of the Medical Board, a determination by a properly constituted Board of Trustees is required (see Matter of Seiferheld v. Kelly, 16 N.Y.3d 561, 564, 925 N.Y.S.2d 1, 948 N.E.2d 1285 [2011] ). TOM, J.P., SWEENY, RENWICK, ANDRIAS, CLARK, JJ., concur.