Court Filings

The Appellate Division, Third Department reversed a Supreme Court order and granted petitioner Junarian Walker's motion for counsel fees under CPLR 8601. Walker, an incarcerated person in a residential mental health unit, had a 120-day special housing sanction imposed after threats; Supreme Court annulled the sanction as violating the HALT Act and SHU Exclusion Law but denied fees, finding the state's position substantially justified and citing special circumstances. The appellate court held the state's position was not substantially justified and no special circumstances made a fee award unjust, so the case is remitted to determine the fee amount.

The Appellate Division, Fourth Department affirmed a Wyoming County Supreme Court judgment denying Richard F. Mills' petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his confinement at Attica Correctional Facility. The appellate court unanimously affirmed without costs, adopting the reasons stated by the trial court (Justice Terrence M. Parker). No new factual findings or legal analysis appear in the short appellate disposition; the judgment below denying relief therefore stands.

The Appellate Division, Fourth Department, denied a CPLR article 78 petition by Leon Thomas challenging a prison disciplinary determination after a tier III hearing. The court confirmed the determination that Thomas violated certain incarcerated individual rules, noting Thomas pleaded guilty to two violations which barred review of the substantial-evidence claim as to those offenses, and it rejected his remaining challenges. The petition was dismissed and the determination confirmed without costs.

The Fourth Department dismissed as moot Anthony Flowers's appeal from a CPLR article 78 judgment that had sought to annul the Parole Board's denial of parole. The court explained the challenged parole determination expired while the appeal was pending and the Board later denied Flowers a subsequent parole request, removing any live controversy. The court also found that the exception to the mootness doctrine did not apply and therefore affirmed dismissal without reaching the merits of the underlying parole decision.

The Appellate Division, Third Department, denied petitioner Tyrone Winston's CPLR Article 78 challenge to a prison disciplinary finding from Auburn Correctional Facility. The court reviewed the Superintendent's determination that Winston violated a disciplinary rule and concluded the determination should be upheld. The court issued a brief order affirming the disciplinary finding and dismissed the petition, without issuing an opinion explaining its reasoning.