Brooklyn Community Mgt. LLC v New York City Dept. of Educ.

Brooklyn Community Mgt. LLC v New York City Dept. of Educ. 2009 NY Slip Op 07924 [67 AD3d 404] November 5, 2009 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. As corrected through Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Brooklyn Community Management LLC et al., Appellants,
v
New York City Department of Education et al., Respondents.

—[*1] Wachtel & Masyr, LLP, New York (Howard Kleinhendler of counsel), for appellants.

Michael A. Cardozo, Corporation Counsel, New York (Norman Corenthal of counsel) for respondents.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Jane S. Solomon, J.), entered September 29, 2008, denying the petition seeking, inter alia, to annul respondents' determination disqualifying petitioner Brooklyn Community Management LLC (BCM), its affiliates and all principal owners or officers from conducting business with respondent Department of Education (DOE), and dismissing the proceeding brought pursuant to CPLR article 78, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

DOE's determination was rationally based upon BCM's continued refusal to accept responsibility for its failure to comply with a certain student's individualized education plan and for having submitted false billing forms pertaining to that student. BCM also failed to answer accurately all questions on the VENDEX forms it submitted as part of its bid proposal for a new contract with DOE, and there were outstanding tax liens against another entity identified as owned by BCM's owner (see e.g. Matter of Ciprietti-Tolisano Assoc. v Karnovsky, 268 AD2d 234 [2000], lv denied 95 NY2d 759 [2000]).

The penalty imposed is not shocking to one's sense of fairness (see Matter of Kelly v Safir, 96 NY2d 32, 38 [2001]), and contrary to petitioners' contention, was not based upon a single billing error. [*2]

We have considered petitioners' remaining arguments and find them unavailing. Concur—Gonzalez, P.J., Saxe, Catterson, McGuire and Acosta, JJ.