Bard College v. Dutchess County Board of Elections
| Decision Date | 29 October 2021 |
| Docket Number | Index No. 52777/21,s. 2021-07433,2021-07434 |
| Citation | 2021 NY Slip Op 05937 |
| Parties | In the Matter of Bard College, etc., et al., Petitioners-Respondents, v. Dutchess County Board of Elections, Respondent, Erik J. Haight, etc., Appellant, Hanna Black, etc., Respondent-Respondent. Index No. 52777/21 |
| Court | New York Supreme Court |
Argued - October 28, 2021
REINALDO E. RIVERA, J.P. CHERYL E. CHAMBERS WILLIAM G. FORD DEBORAH A. DOWLING, JJ.
DECISION & ORDER
In a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, in effect, in the nature of mandamus to compel the respondent Dutchess County Board of Elections to designate the Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard College as the polling place for Election District 5 in the Town of Red Hook for a general election to be held on November 2, 2021, or, in the alternative, to designate both the Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard College and St John's Episcopal Church as the polling places for Election District 5 in the Town of Red Hook for the general election to be held on November 2, 2021, Erik J. Haight appeals from (1) an order and judgment (one paper) of the Supreme Court, Dutchess County (Maria G. Rosa, J.), dated September 22, 2021, and (2) an order of the same court dated October 13, 2021. The order and judgment, insofar as appealed from, without a hearing, denied the motion of Erik J. Haight pursuant to CPLR 3211(a) to dismiss the petition, and granted that branch of the petition which was to compel the Dutchess County Board of Elections to designate both the Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard College and St. John's Episcopal Church as the polling places for Election District 5 in the Town of Red Hook. The order denied the motion of Erik J Haight, inter alia, to vacate so much of the order and judgment as, without a hearing, granted that branch of the petition which was to compel the Dutchess County Board of Elections to designate both the Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard College and St. John's Episcopal Church as the polling places for Election District 5 in the Town of Red Hook.
ORDERED that the order and judgment is affirmed insofar as appealed from, without costs or disbursements; and it is further ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
The petitioners commenced this proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, in effect, in the nature of mandamus to compel the Dutchess County Board of Elections (hereinafter the Board) to designate the Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard College (hereinafter the Campus Center) as the polling place for Election District 5 in the Town of Red Hook (hereinafter District 5) for a general election to be held on November 2, 2021, or, in the alternative, to designate both the Campus Center and St. John's Episcopal Church (hereinafter the Church) as the polling places for District 5. In 2019, the Board used the Church as the polling place for District 5, as it had for many years. In 2020, the Board designated both the Campus Center and the Church in accordance with a stipulated order of the Supreme Court dated October 30, 2020. The Board failed to reach an agreement on a 2021 polling location for District 5 at its February 25, 2021 meeting. It thereafter notified the voters of District 5 that the Church would be their sole polling location. The petition alleges, among other things, that the Board arbitrarily reverted to its 2019 designation for District 5 (see CPLR 7803[3]).
By notice of motion dated August 2, 2021, Erik J. Haight, a Commissioner of the Board, moved pursuant to CPLR 3211(a) to dismiss the petition, arguing, inter alia, that it was time-barred. The petitioners and the respondent Hannah Black, a Commissioner of the Board, separately opposed the motion. Black additionally submitted an answer in which she interposed a cross claim against the Board and Haight, seeking essentially the same relief as the petitioners. In an order and judgment dated September 22, 2021, the Supreme Court, without a hearing, denied Haight's motion to dismiss and granted that branch of the petition which was to compel the Board to designate both the Campus Center and the Church as polling places for District 5. Haight thereafter moved to vacate so much of the order and judgment as granted the petition in part and for permission to file an answer to the petition and to the cross claim. The court denied that motion in an order dated October 13, 2021. Haight appeals from the order and judgment, as well as from the order.
As an initial matter, Black waived her challenge to Haight's capacity to appeal from adverse determinations of the Supreme Court (see Matter of Rochester Police Locust Club, Inc. v City of Rochester, 196 A.D.3d 74, 77-78; Matter of County of Chautauqua v Shah, 126 A.D.3d 1317, 1320, affd sub nom. Matter of County of Chemung v Shah, 28 N.Y.3d 244). Black is also incorrect that Haight lacks standing to appeal. Any "aggrieved party . . . may appeal from any appealable judgment or order except one entered upon the default of the aggrieved party" (CPLR 5511). A party "is aggrieved within the meaning of CPLR 5511 when he or she asks for relief but that relief is denied in whole or in part, or when someone asks for relief against him or her, which the person opposed, and the relief is granted in whole or in part" (Daviotis v Kappa Servs. Corp., 161 A.D.3d 722, 722). Here, Haight is aggrieved by the order and judgment and the order, insofar as those papers either denied relief to him or granted relief to the petitioners (see CPLR 5511).
Turning to the merits, a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 in the nature of mandamus to compel is subject to a four-month statute of limitations (see CPLR 217[1]; Matter of Thomas v New York City Employees' Retirement Sys., 183 A.D.3d 898, 900). A cause of action sounding in mandamus accrues when the administrative determination at issue becomes "final and binding" (Matter of Carter v Walt Whitman N.Y. City Hous. Auth., 98 A.D.3d 1113, 1114). "An agency action becomes final and binding upon a petitioner when two factors are present: (1) where 'the agency . . . reached a definitive position on the issue that inflicts...
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