Matter of King v Knipel, 2024 NY Slip Op 05103 [231 AD3d 955]
October 16, 2024
Appellate Division, Second Department
[*1]
In the Matter of Walter King, Jr., Petitioner,
v
Lawrence Knipel, a Justice of the Supreme Court, Kings County, Respondent.
Walter King, Jr., Brooklyn, 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 effect, in the nature of mandamus to compel the respondent, Lawrence Knipel, a Justice of the Supreme Court, Kings County, to respond to communications by the petitioner dated March 26, 2024, and April 23, 2024, regarding an action entitled Matter of King v New York City Dept. of Social Serv./Human Resources Admin. , pending in the Supreme Court, Kings County, under index No. 722/23, 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 [1981]). 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., Chambers, Taylor and Golia, JJ., concur..