Opinion
December 1, 1997
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Adams, J.).
Ordered that the order is reversed, on the law, with costs, the motion is granted, the complaint is dismissed, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Nassau County, for the entry of an appropriate judgment declaring that no employment contracts exist between the plaintiffs and the defendant Nassau County Police Department.
The law is well settled that when an individual passes a civil service examination and his name appears on a list of eligible candidates, that individual "does not acquire any 'legally protectable interest' in an appointment to the position for which the examination was given" ( Matter of Andriola v. Ortiz, 82 N.Y.2d 320, 324, cert denied 511 U.S. 1031, quoting Matter of Cassidy v. Municipal Civ. Serv. Commn., 37 N.Y.2d 526, 529). Indeed, such eligible candidates "do 'not possess any mandated right to appointment or any other legally protectable interest. [They] can assert at most the right to consideration for and a "hope" of appointment'" ( Matter of Deas v. Levitt, 73 N.Y.2d 525, 532, cert denied 493 U.S. 933, quoting Matter of Cassidy v. Municipal Civ. Serv. Commn., supra, at 529). In the instant matter, notwithstanding the extension of conditional employment offers, the plaintiffs have not demonstrated that they are more than mere eligible candidates, or that they possess any viable contractual rights to compel the defendant Nassau County to hire them, or that the defendant Nassau County Police Department breached any final, enforceable employment contracts with them ( see, e.g., Matter of Scheurer v. New York City Employees' Retirement Sys., 223 A.D.2d 379; Meyers v. City of New York, 208 A.D.2d 258; Matter of Joseph v. City of New York, 201 A.D.2d 397; Matter of D'Amico v. Leonard, 64 A.D.2d 626). Therefore, an appropriate judgment declaring the rights of the parties should be entered and the complaint otherwise dismissed ( see, Lanza v. Wagner, 11 N.Y.2d 317, 334, cert denied 371 U.S. 901; CPLR 3211 [a] [7]).
Miller, J. P., Sullivan, Santucci and Lerner, JJ., concur.