Opinion
2016–13029 Claim No. 127704
12-20-2017
Deborah BUSH, appellant, v. STEVENSON COMMONS ASSOCIATES, LLP, Esqs., defendant; State of New York, nonparty-respondent.
Deborah Bush, Bronx, NY, appellant pro se. Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, New York, N.Y. (Andrew W. Amend and David Lawrence III of counsel), for nonparty-respondent.
Deborah Bush, Bronx, NY, appellant pro se.
Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, New York, N.Y. (Andrew W. Amend and David Lawrence III of counsel), for nonparty-respondent.
REINALDO E. RIVERA, J.P., SHERI S. ROMAN, HECTOR D. LASALLE, BETSY BARROS, JJ.
DECISION & ORDERIn a claim, inter alia, to recover damages for housing discrimination, the claimant appeals from an order of the Court of Claims (Soto, J.), dated September 12, 2016, which granted the motion of nonparty State of New York to dismiss the claim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
"The Court of Claims has limited jurisdiction to hear actions against the State itself, or actions naming State agencies or officials as defendants, where the action is, in reality, one against the State—i.e., where the State is the real party in interest" ( Morell v. Balasubramanian, 70 N.Y.2d 297, 300, 520 N.Y.S.2d 530, 514 N.E.2d 1101 ; Borawski v. Abulafia, 117 A.D.3d 662, 663, 985 N.Y.S.2d 284 ; Starker v. Trump Vil. Section 4, Inc., 104 A.D.3d 937, 937–938, 960 N.Y.S.2d 912 ), as well as claims against a few other State-related entities as provided by statute (see Erie Blvd. Hydropower, LP v. State of New York, 90 A.D.3d 1292, 1293, 935 N.Y.S.2d 349 ; Public Authorities Law § 361–b ; Education Law § 6224[4] ; see also Plath v. New York State Olympic Regional Dev. Auth., 304 A.D.2d 885, 886–887, 758 N.Y.S.2d 410 ). Here, since the defendant is neither a State actor nor one of the State-related entities that may be sued in the Court of Claims, the Court of Claims properly directed dismissal of the claim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
In light of our determination, we need not reach the parties' remaining contentions.
RIVERA, J.P., ROMAN, LASALLE and BARROS, JJ., concur.