Opinion
6536
05-10-2018
In re RUSHANE P., Petitioner–Appellant, v. BORIS L.R., Respondent–Respondent.
Sanctuary for Families, New York (Melina Sfakianaki of counsel), and Danielle S. Moore, New York, for appellant. Heslop & Kalba, LLP, Brooklyn (Garfield A. Heslop of counsel), for respondent.
Sanctuary for Families, New York (Melina Sfakianaki of counsel), and Danielle S. Moore, New York, for appellant.
Heslop & Kalba, LLP, Brooklyn (Garfield A. Heslop of counsel), for respondent.
Friedman, J.P., Tom, Kapnick, Kahn, Kern, JJ.
Order, Family Court, New York County (J. Machelle Sweeting, J.), entered on or about August 16, 2017, which, to the extent appealed from, dismissed the family offense petition with prejudice, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, and the petition reinstated.Family Court erred in dismissing the petition, which alleged family offenses that occurred in New York, Pennsylvania, and Jamaica, on the ground that the only incident alleged to have occurred in New York happened in 2014, three years before the filing of the petition. The court's subject matter jurisdiction was not "limited by geography"; the court could have made findings of fact as to incidents that occurred outside its jurisdiction ( Matter of Opportune N. v. Clarence N., 110 A.D.3d 430, 430–31, 972 N.Y.S.2d 245 [1st Dept. 2013] ; see Matter of Richardson v. Richardson, 80 A.D.3d 32, 37–38, 910 N.Y.S.2d 149 [2d Dept. 2010] ). Moreover, "a court shall not ... dismiss a petition[ ] solely on the basis that the acts or events alleged are not relatively contemporaneous with the date of the petition" ( Family Court Act § 812[1] ; see Matter of Monwara G. v. Abdul G., 153 A.D.3d 1174, 1175, 60 N.Y.S.3d 166 [1st Dept. 2017] ; Matter of Opray v. Fitzharris, 84 A.D.3d 1092, 1093, 924 N.Y.S.2d 421 [2d Dept. 2011] ). We note, moreover, that petitioner contends that the court erroneously found that the most recent incident alleged February 2017) took place in Jamaica, rather than in New York, where petitioner had been residing since August 2016.