Johnson v. State of New York

State of New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division Third Judicial Department Decided and Entered: June 30, 2016 521060 ________________________________ JOHNATHAN JOHNSON, Appellant, v MEMORANDUM AND ORDER STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent. ________________________________ Calendar Date: May 25, 2016 Before: Peters, P.J., McCarthy, Egan Jr., Lynch and Devine, JJ. __________ Johnathan Johnson, Malone, appellant pro se. Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, Albany (Owen Demuth of counsel), for respondent. __________ Egan Jr., J. Appeal from an order of the Court of Claims (DeBow, J.), entered April 23, 2015, which granted defendant's motion to dismiss the claim. In 2009, claimant, an inmate at Upstate Correctional Facility, filed a claim alleging that he had been denied, among other things, certain prescribed medication, a medical examination, access to his legal mail and legal forms from the law library. Defendant answered, asserted numerous affirmative defenses and, in 2015, moved to dismiss the claim. After claimant failed to submit any papers in opposition to defendant's motion, the Court of Claims granted the motion upon his default and dismissed the claim. Claimant now appeals. -2- 521060 It is well settled that no appeal is permitted from an order entered upon a party's default (see CPLR 5511) — the sole remedy being to move to vacate the default order and, if that motion is denied, to appeal such denial (see CPLR 5015 [a] [1]; Matter of Susan UU. v Scott VV., 119 AD3d 1117, 1118 [2014]; Matter of Jay v Fischer, 102 AD3d 1021, 1021 [2013]; DeLuke v Albany Rest. Supply, Inc., 42 AD3d 601, 601 [2007]). Here, claimant did not file any responsive papers to defendant's motion, despite evidence in the record establishing that he was served with the motion. Accordingly, the Court of Claims properly treated claimant's failure to respond to defendant's motion as a default (see Matter of County of Albany [Bowles], 91 AD3d 1132, 1133 [2012]; M & C Bros., Inc. v Torum, 75 AD3d 869, 870-871 [2010]). As claimant failed to move to vacate the default order, his appeal is not properly before us. Peters, P.J., McCarthy, Lynch and Devine, JJ., concur. ORDERED that the appeal is dismissed, without costs. ENTER: Robert D. Mayberger Clerk of the Court