Opinion
2020-05274 Index No. 201553/10
03-29-2023
Robert GRECO, respondent, v. Susan GRECO, appellant.
Susan Greco, Oyster Bay, NY, appellant pro se. Robert Greco, Windermere, Florida, respondent pro se.
Susan Greco, Oyster Bay, NY, appellant pro se.
Robert Greco, Windermere, Florida, respondent pro se.
COLLEEN D. DUFFY, J.P., CHERYL E. CHAMBERS, JOSEPH J. MALTESE, PAUL WOOTEN, JJ.
DECISION & ORDER
In a matrimonial action in which the parties were divorced by a judgment of divorce entered April 22, 2015, the defendant appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Jeffrey A. Goodstein, J.), dated September 28, 2018. The order denied that branch of the defendant's motion which was to modify a decision and order of this Court dated May 16, 2018, affirming a prior order of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Geoffrey J. O'Connell, J.H.O), dated April 20, 2016, insofar as appealed from.
ORDERED that the order dated September 28, 2018, is affirmed, with costs.
The parties were divorced by a judgment of divorce entered April 22, 2015. In August 2018, the defendant moved in the Supreme Court, among other things, to modify a decision and order of this Court, dated May 16, 2018 (hereinafter the May 2018 order). The May 2018 order affirmed, insofar as appealed from, a prior order of the Supreme Court, dated April 20, 2016 (hereinafter the April 2016 order), which, inter alia, directed the plaintiff to pay certain counsel fees incurred by the defendant directly to the defendant's counsel (see Greco v. Greco, 161 A.D.3d 955, 73 N.Y.S.3d 765 ). By order dated September 28, 2018, the Supreme Court denied that branch of the defendant's motion which was to modify the May 2018 order so as to direct the plaintiff to pay the counsel fees directly to the defendant on the ground that it lacks authority to modify an order of the Appellate Division. The defendant appeals.
The Supreme Court properly denied that branch of the defendant's motion which was to modify the May 2018 order. " ‘Trial courts are without authority to vacate or modify orders of the Appellate Division’ " ( Wiener v. Wiener, 10 A.D.3d 362, 363, 780 N.Y.S.2d 759, quoting Maracina v. Schirrmeister, 152 A.D.2d 502, 502–503, 544 N.Y.S.2d 13 ; see Matter of Branciforte v. Spanish Naturopath Socy., Inc., 217 A.D.2d 619, 619–620, 629 N.Y.S.2d 465 ).
DUFFY, J.P., CHAMBERS, MALTESE and WOOTEN, JJ., concur.