Norstar Bank of Long Island v. Stradford

Full title: NORSTAR BANK OF LONG ISLAND, Appellant, v. RUDOLPH T. STRADFORD et al.…

Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Dec 1, 1986

125 A.D.2d 298 (N.Y. App. Div. 1986)

Opinion

December 1, 1986

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Richmond County (Amann, J.).

Ordered that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs, and that branch of the respondents' motion which was for an award of counsel fees is denied.

In the absence of some specific statutory authority or contractual provision, counsel fees are merely incidents of litigation which are not compensable or recoverable (see, Matter of Green [Potter], 51 N.Y.2d 627, 629-630; City of Buffalo v Clement Co., 28 N.Y.2d 241, 262, rearg denied 29 N.Y.2d 640; Gabrelian v. Gabrelian, 108 A.D.2d 445, 447, appeal dismissed 66 N.Y.2d 741). There being no statute authorizing an award of counsel fees in this case, and no agreement obligating the plaintiff to pay such fees, the award of counsel fees was improper. Thompson, J.P., Bracken, Rubin and Spatt, JJ., concur.