Matter of Johnson v. Leverett ( 2023 )

Matter of Johnson v Leverett (2023 NY Slip Op 04770)

Matter of Johnson v Leverett

2023 NY Slip Op 04770

Decided on September 27, 2023

Appellate Division, Second Department

Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.

This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided on September 27, 2023 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department
HECTOR D. LASALLE, P.J.
BETSY BARROS
HELEN VOUTSINAS
LOURDES M. VENTURA, JJ.

2023-03259 DECISION, ORDER & JUDGMENT

[*1]In the Matter of Jonathan Johnson, petitioner,

v

Ulysses B. Leverett, etc., respondent.

Jonathan Johnson, Brocton, NY, petitioner pro se.

Letitia James, Attorney General, New York, NY (Charles F. Sanders of counsel), for respondent.

Proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, inter alia, in the nature of mandamus to compel the respondent, Ulysses B. Leverett, a Justice of the Supreme Court, Queens County, to grant his motion to waive all filing fees in a proceeding entitled Matter of Johnson v Katz , pending in that court under Index No. 1296/22, and application by the petitioner for poor person relief.

ORDERED that the application for poor person relief is granted to the extent that the filing fee imposed by CPLR 8022(b) is waived, and the application is otherwise denied as academic; and it is further,

ADJUDGED that the petition is denied and the proceeding is dismissed on the merits, without costs or disbursements.

The extraordinary remedy of mandamus will lie only to compel the performance of a ministerial act, and only where there exists a clear legal right to the relief sought (see Matter of Legal Aid Socy. of Sullivan County v Scheinman , 53 NY2d 12, 16). The petitioner has failed to demonstrate a clear legal right to the relief sought.

The petitioner's remaining contentions are without merit.

LASALLE, P.J., BARROS, VOUTSINAS and VENTURA, JJ., concur.

ENTER:

Darrell M. Joseph

Acting Clerk of the Court