Opinion
521881
06-16-2016
In the Matter of CARLOS RODRIGUEZ, Appellant, v. STATE OF NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND COMMUNITY SUPERVISION, Respondent.
Carlos Rodriguez, Wallkill, appellant pro se. Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, Albany (Laura Etlinger of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Lahtinen, J.P., Egan Jr., Rose, Clark and Mulvey, JJ.
Carlos Rodriguez, Wallkill, appellant pro se.
Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, Albany (Laura Etlinger of counsel), for respondent.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Koweek, J.), entered October 2, 2015 in Columbia County, which, in a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, granted respondent's motion to dismiss the petition.
Petitioner commenced this CPLR article 78 proceeding seeking to expunge allegedly inaccurate mental health information contained in his security classification records. In lieu of an answer, respondent moved to dismiss the petition as moot on the ground that the objectionable information has since been deleted. Supreme Court granted the motion and this appeal ensued.
Respondent concedes, and we agree, that, to the extent that petitioner's security classification records reflect petitioner's prior designation as an Office of Mental Health service level 1, the matter is not moot. Given that respondent has not had the opportunity to submit an answer on the merits of the petition, the matter must be remitted to Supreme Court for further proceedings (see e.g. Matter of Kairis v Smith, 129 AD3d 1426, 1426 [2015]; Matter of Hammond v LaValley, 117 AD3d 1266, 1267 [2014]).
Lahtinen, J.P., Egan Jr., Rose, Clark and Mulvey, JJ., concur.
ORDERED that the judgment is reversed, on the law, without costs, motion denied, and matter remitted to the Supreme Court to permit respondent to serve an answer within 20 days of the date of this Court's decision.