NCRNC, LLC v. Angona
| Docket Number | 533462 |
| Decision Date | 27 October 2022 |
| Citation | 209 A.D.3d 1199,176 N.Y.S.3d 383 |
| Parties | NCRNC, LLC, Doing Business as Northeast Center for Rehabilitation and Brain Injury, Appellant, v. Douglas ANGONA, Individually and as Power of Attorney for Sylvia Lehtinen, Defendant, and Robert Gibson, as Commissioner of the Columbia County Department of Social Services, Respondent. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
209 A.D.3d 1199
176 N.Y.S.3d 383
NCRNC, LLC, Doing Business as Northeast Center for Rehabilitation and Brain Injury, Appellant,
v.
Douglas ANGONA, Individually and as Power of Attorney for Sylvia Lehtinen, Defendant,
and
Robert Gibson, as Commissioner of the Columbia County Department of Social Services, Respondent.
533462
Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.
Calendar Date: September 14, 2022
Decided and Entered: October 27, 2022
Hinman, Howard & Kattell, LLP, Albany (Linda B. Johnson of counsel), for appellant.
Johnson & Laws, LLC, Clifton Park (Nicole C. Haddadnia of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Garry, P.J., Lynch, Aarons, Pritzker and McShan, JJ.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
Garry, P.J.
Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court (James P. Gilpatric, J.), entered April 13, 2021 in Ulster County, which, among other things, granted defendant Commissioner of Columbia County Department of Social Services’ motion to dismiss the amended complaint against him.
Plaintiff, a licensed nursing home facility, provided health care services to Sylvia Lehtinen from November 20, 2015 through September 8, 2016. After Lehtinen's health insurance ceased covering plaintiff's services, Lehtinen's son and attorney-in-fact, defendant Douglas Angona, failed to apply for medical assistance benefits on her behalf or otherwise pay her bill. In July 2016, plaintiff submitted a chronic care Medicaid application to the Columbia County Department of Social Services (hereinafter DSS), purportedly on Lehtinen's behalf. No decision on that application was rendered.
In November 2018, plaintiff commenced this action against defendants, setting forth two causes of action against defendant Commissioner of Columbia County Department of Social Services. In the first cause of action, plaintiff sought a judgment declaring that Lehtinen was eligible for full Medicaid benefits beginning April 1, 2016 through September 8, 2016, directing the Commissioner to process and
approve plaintiff's July 2016 application and awarding plaintiff certain damages. In the second cause of action, plaintiff alleged that the Commissioner negligently failed to discharge its duty to provide Medicaid coverage to Lehtinen, an allegedly eligible patient, and thereby proximately caused certain damages. Through causes of action for breach of contract, nonpayment of an account, unjust enrichment, fraudulent conveyance and breach of fiduciary duty, plaintiff also sought damages from Angona in the amount of Lehtinen's private pay balance.
The Commissioner answered and later moved to dismiss the amended complaint on several CPLR 3211(a) grounds, arguing, in pertinent part, that plaintiff failed to satisfy notice of claim requirements and that the July 2016 application was a nullity upon which DSS had no obligation to pass because plaintiff was never authorized to act on Lehtinen's behalf. Plaintiff opposed and cross-moved for certain relief not presently relevant. Supreme Court generally agreed with the Commissioner, dismissing the amended complaint against him in the absence of a valid application and further agreeing that
plaintiff's second cause of action, expressly sounding in tort, required a written notice of claim. Plaintiff appeals.
We agree with Supreme Court that the July 2016 application was a nullity and that the Commissioner therefore conclusively established that plaintiff can maintain no cause of action against him (see generally Rovello v. Orofino Realty Co., 40 N.Y.2d 633, 636, 389 N.Y.S.2d 314, 357 N.E.2d 970 [1976]...
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