Opinion
02-02-2017
Annabel PALMA, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. Ralph BURGOS, Defendant–Appellant.
Law Offices of John Trop, Yonkers (David Holmes of counsel), for appellant. Krentsel & Guzman, LLP, New York (Steven E. Krentsel of counsel), for respondent.
Law Offices of John Trop, Yonkers (David Holmes of counsel), for appellant.
Krentsel & Guzman, LLP, New York (Steven E. Krentsel of counsel), for respondent.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Kenneth L. Thompson, Jr., J.), entered March 16, 2016, which denied defendant's motion to change venue from Bronx County to Rockland County pursuant to CPLR 510(2), unanimously affirmed, without costs.
The court's denial of defendant's motion was a provident exercise of discretion (see Midonick v. Peppertree Hill Dev. Corp., 49 A.D.2d 721, 373 N.Y.S.2d 2 [1st Dept.1975] ). Plaintiff is a member of the New York City Council and is Secretary of the Bronx Democratic Committee. These positions held by plaintiff, however, do not justify an inference that a fair trial cannot be held in Bronx County. As in Midonick, the subject motion was based merely upon defendant's belief that an impartial trial could not be held "without any showing of facts and circumstances demonstrating that the belief was well-founded" (id. at 722, 373 N.Y.S.2d 2 ). Defendant's reliance on cases involving motions for a change of venue where judges were involved with a case in the jurisdiction where he or she presided (see e.g. Rothwax v. Spicehandler, 161 A.D.2d 184, 554 N.Y.S.2d 882 [1st Dept.1990] ; Arkwright v. Steinbugler, 283 App.Div. 397, 128 N.Y.S.2d 823 [2d Dept.1954] ), is misplaced. Plaintiff is not a judge in Bronx County, nor is she closely related to one.
SWEENY, J.P., ACOSTA, MOSKOWITZ, KAPNICK, KAHN, JJ., concur.