Opinion
1304N
June 3, 2003.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Harold Tompkins, J.), entered on or about June 24, 2002, which, in an action by a landlord against a tenant for a declaration that the tenant violated the lease by making alterations to the premises without obtaining the landlord's consent and necessary permits, an injunction compelling the tenant to restore the premises to their original condition, and attorneys' fees, denied the landlord's motion to retransfer the action from Civil Court to Supreme Court pursuant to CPLR 325(b), unanimously modified, on the law, to re-transfer the cause of action for a declaratory judgment, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.
Paul N. Gruber, for plaintiff-appellant.
Arlene F. Boop, for defendant-respondent.
Before: Andrias, J.P., Saxe, Ellerin, Lerner, Friedman, JJ.
The action should not have been transferred to Civil Court pursuant to CPLR 325(d) since the primary relief sought, a declaratory judgment, is not within that court's subject matter jurisdiction (see Lex 33 Assoc. v. Grasso, 283 A.D.2d 272). Accordingly, we retransfer that cause of action to Supreme Court pursuant to CPLR 325(b) (see Zuckerman v. Spector, 287 A.D.2d 402). Neither the landlord's failure to appeal the CPLR 325(d) order, nor his delay in seeking a retransfer, during which, we note, the case was active, requires retention of the action in Civil Court (see id.). We decline to retransfer the causes of action for an injunction and attorneys' fees since those causes of action are within Civil Court's jurisdiction and have been dismissed.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.