Opinion
2001-10905
Submitted May 16, 2002.
June 18, 2002.
In a matrimonial action in which the parties were divorced by judgment entered February 6, 1998, Gerald Sultan, attorney for the defendant, appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Stack, J.), dated November 16, 2000, which, after a hearing, determined that he had engaged in frivolous conduct and directed him to pay a sanction in the principal sum of $3,500 and costs in the sum of $562.50.
Gerald Sultan, Brooklyn, N.Y., nonparty-appellant pro se.
Before: FRED T. SANTUCCI, J.P., NANCY E. SMITH, WILLIAM D. FRIEDMANN, SANDRA L. TOWNES, JJ.
ORDERED that the appeal is dismissed, without costs or disbursements.
"It is the obligation of the appellant to assemble a proper record on appeal" (Matison v. County of Nassau, 290 A.D.2d 494; see Singh v. Getty Petroleum Corp., 275 A.D.2d 740). "An appellant's record on appeal must include any relevant transcripts of proceedings before the Supreme Court" (Desmarat v. Basile, 288 A.D.2d 336; see Matison v. County of Nassau, supra; Lowry v. Suffolk Co. Water Auth., 287 A.D.2d 551). The failure to provide necessary transcripts generally inhibits the court's ability to render an informed decision on the merits of the appeal (see Riverso v. Allstate Ins. Co., 282 A.D.2d 663; Svoboda v. Svoboda, 275 A.D.2d 742) . Because the appellant failed to include in the record on appeal the minutes of the sanction hearing pursuant to which the order appealed from was rendered, this appeal must be dismissed (see Matison v. County of Nassau, supra; Desmarat v. Basile, supra; Lowry v. Suffolk Co. Water Auth., supra; Riverso v. Allstate Ins. Co., supra; Matter of Zaikowski v. Monzon, 277 A.D.2d 459; Singh v. Getty Petroleum Corp., supra; Svoboda v. Svoboda, supra).
SANTUCCI, J.P., SMITH, FRIEDMANN and TOWNES, JJ., concur.