Opinion
03-10-2016
In the Matter of INJAH UNIQUE TAFARI, Appellant, v. Brandi COLLYER, as Supervisor of the Inmate Grievance Program, et al., Respondents.
Injah Unique Tafari, Elmira, appellant pro se. Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, Albany (Martin A. Hotvet of counsel), for respondents.
Injah Unique Tafari, Elmira, appellant pro se.
Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, Albany (Martin A. Hotvet of counsel), for respondents.
Appeal from an amended judgment of the Supreme Court (Feldstein, J.), entered June 10, 2015 in Franklin County, which, in a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, granted respondents' motion to dismiss the petition.
Petitioner commenced this CPLR article 78 proceeding challenging a determination that restricted the number of grievances that petitioner was permitted to file each week at Upstate Correctional Facility due to his misuse of the inmate grievance program. Supreme Court granted respondents' motion to dismiss the petition as moot and this appeal ensued.
We affirm. The record establishes that, during the pendency of the proceeding, petitioner was transferred to another correctional facility and, as a result, the restriction regarding the filing of grievances by petitioner at Upstate Correctional Facility was lifted. As petitioner was no longer subject to the administrative action that curtailed the number of weekly grievances that he was permitted to file, Supreme Court properly dismissed the petition as moot (see Matter of Campbell v. Fischer, 105 A.D.3d 1222, 1222, 963 N.Y.S.2d 459 [2013], lv. denied 22 N.Y.3d 853, 2013 WL 5658061 [2013] ; Matter of Patel v. New York State Dept. of Corr. Servs., 84 A.D.3d 1668, 1669, 923 N.Y.S.2d 373 [2011] ; Matter of Johnson v. Goord, 289 A.D.2d 625, 625, 733 N.Y.S.2d 651 [2001], appeal dismissed and lv. denied 97 N.Y.2d 723, 740 N.Y.S.2d 691, 767 N.E.2d 149 [2002] ). We are unpersuaded by petitioner's contention that the matter falls within the exception to the mootness doctrine (see Matter of Hearst Corp. v. Clyne, 50 N.Y.2d 707, 713, 431 N.Y.S.2d 400, 409 N.E.2d 876 [1980] ; Matter of Johnson v. Goord, 289 A.D.2d at 625, 733 N.Y.S.2d 651 ).
ORDERED that the amended judgment is affirmed, without costs.
McCARTHY, J.P., GARRY, ROSE and DEVINE, JJ., concur.