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Matter of Lavis v. Clair

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Apr 15, 1996
226 A.D.2d 535 (N.Y. App. Div. 1996)

Opinion

April 15, 1996

Appeal from the Family Court, Suffolk County (McNulty, J.).


Ordered that the orders are affirmed, without costs or disbursements.

The petitioner's contention that the Family Court Judge improperly excluded the results of the DNA blood testing is without merit. Family Court Act § 532 (a) was amended effective June 15, 1994 (L 1994, ch 170) to provide that the court "shall order the mother, her child and the alleged father to submit to one or more blood genetic marker or DNA tests" upon the motion of a party in a paternity proceeding. The right to DNA testing depends on its availability, and the tests must be performed by a "duly qualified physician or by a laboratory duly approved for this purpose by the commissioner of health" (Family Ct Act § 532 [a], as amended by L 1994, ch 170; see also, Matter of Leon L. v Carole H., 210 A.D.2d 484). In this case, the petitioner was not entitled to have the DNA test results admitted since the DNA testing was not done by a duly-approved laboratory ( see, Matter of Barbara A.M. v. Gerard J.M., 178 A.D.2d 412; Matter of Department of Social Servs. [Ruth M.H.] v. Joseph N., 159 Misc.2d 833; cf., Matter of Leon L. v. Carole H., supra).

There was ample support for the Family Court Judge's finding that the petitioner did not meet her burden of establishing paternity by clear and convincing evidence, and there is no basis for substituting our judgment for that of the Family Court Judge, who saw and heard the witnesses ( see, Matter of Sherry G. v George F., 183 A.D.2d 825; Department of Social Servs. [Beatrice V.P.] v. Trustum C.D., 97 A.D.2d 831; see generally, Matter of Commissioner of Social Servs. v. Philip De G., 59 N.Y.2d 137).

Moreover, the Family Court Judge did not improvidently exercise her discretion in denying the petitioner's motion for relief pursuant to CPLR 5015 (a) (2).

We have reviewed the petitioner's remaining contentions and find them to be without merit. Sullivan, J.P., Pizzuto, Joy and Krausman, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Matter of Lavis v. Clair

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Apr 15, 1996
226 A.D.2d 535 (N.Y. App. Div. 1996)
Case details for

Matter of Lavis v. Clair

Case Details

Full title:In the Matter of KATHLEEN LAVIS, Appellant, v. EDWARD CLAIR, JR.…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Apr 15, 1996

Citations

226 A.D.2d 535 (N.Y. App. Div. 1996)
640 N.Y.S.2d 609