Opinion
438 CA 22-01471
06-30-2023
In the Matter of Mark O'BRIEN, LCSW-R, Director of Community Services for the County of Erie, Petitioner-Respondent, v. BRENDA H., Respondent-Appellant.
BRENDA H., RESPONDENT-APPELLANT PRO SE. MICHAEL A. SIRAGUSA, COUNTY ATTORNEY, BUFFALO (MORGANN K. OBROCHTA OF COUNSEL), FOR PETITIONER-RESPONDENT.
BRENDA H., RESPONDENT-APPELLANT PRO SE.
MICHAEL A. SIRAGUSA, COUNTY ATTORNEY, BUFFALO (MORGANN K. OBROCHTA OF COUNSEL), FOR PETITIONER-RESPONDENT.
PRESENT: WHALEN, P.J., LINDLEY, CURRAN, BANNISTER, AND GREENWOOD, JJ.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER It is hereby ORDERED that said appeal is unanimously dismissed without costs.
Memorandum: In this Mental Hygiene Law § 9.60 proceeding, respondent, pro se, appeals from an order that denied her application seeking, inter alia, to stay a prior amended order that, among other things, directed that she receive assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) for a period of six months (AOT order).
We dismiss the appeal as moot. It is well settled that "an appeal will be considered moot unless the rights of the parties will be directly affected by the determination of the appeal and the interest of the parties is an immediate consequence of the judgment" ( Matter of Hearst Corp. v. Clyne , 50 N.Y.2d 707, 714, 431 N.Y.S.2d 400, 409 N.E.2d 876 [1980] ; see Matter of Buffalo Teachers Fedn., Inc. [Board of Educ. of the Buffalo Pub. Schs.] , 179 A.D.3d 1553, 1554, 118 N.Y.S.3d 343 [4th Dept. 2020] ). Here, the AOT order expired by its own terms on November 5, 2022. Thus, adjudication of the merits will not "result in immediate and practical consequences to the parties" ( Coleman v. Daines , 19 N.Y.3d 1087, 1090, 955 N.Y.S.2d 831, 979 N.E.2d 1158 [2012] ; see City of New York v. Maul , 14 N.Y.3d 499, 507, 903 N.Y.S.2d 304, 929 N.E.2d 366 [2010] ; Matter of Yuri M. [Karpati] , 107 A.D.3d 999, 1000, 966 N.Y.S.2d 883 [2d Dept. 2013] ). Contrary to respondent's contention, we conclude that the exception to the mootness doctrine does not apply in this case (see Matter of Belkin v. Aleksander Z. , 189 A.D.3d 1032, 1032, 133 N.Y.S.3d 915 [2d Dept. 2020] ; Matter of Michael P. [Perlman] , 131 A.D.3d 1062, 1063, 16 N.Y.S.3d 465 [2d Dept. 2015] ; see generally Matter of Gannett Co., Inc. v. Doran , 74 A.D.3d 1788, 1789, 903 N.Y.S.2d 634 [4th Dept. 2010] ).