Opinion
2535N
December 12, 2002.
Judgment-Creditor.
Jerry Kugelmas, for plaintiff-appellant.
Stein Riso Mantel, LLP, for defendant.
Before: ANDRIAS, J.P., SAXE, SULLIVAN, FRIEDMAN, GONZALEZ, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Laura Drager, J.), entered December 6, 2001, awarding defendant's former counsel, the law firm of Stein Riso Mantel, LLP, counsel fees in the sum of $50,000, unanimously affirmed, without costs. Appeal from an order, same court and Justice, entered October 31, 2001, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as subsumed in the appeal from the ensuing judgment.
In light of the motion court's "great flexibility" in awarding interim counsel fees (DeBernardo v. DeBernardo, 180 A.D.2d 500, 502), and the controlling equitable principles (see Charpie v. Charpie, 271 A.D.2d 169, 171), we find that the court properly exercised its discretion in accepting, as adequate, defendant's disclosure of her financial circumstances (cf. DiSanto v. DiSanto, 279 A.D.2d 603). The amount of the fee award is not excessive.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.