Smith v United Church of Christ

Smith v United Church of Christ 2012 NY Slip Op 03740 Decided on May 10, 2012 Appellate Division, First 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 May 10, 2012
Friedman, J.P., Sweeny, DeGrasse, Román, JJ. 7615-
7616 111455/10

[*1]George Bundy Smith, Sr., etc., Plaintiff-Appellant,

v

The United Church of Christ, et al., Defendants-Respondents.




George Bundy Smith, Sr., appellant pro se.
Donald C. Clark, Jr., of the State of Illinois Bar, admitted pro
hac vice, Bannockburn, IL, for The United Church of Christ, Dr.
Geoffrey Black, Rev. Rita Root, Rev. Freeman Palmer, Rev.
Michael Ward Caine, Rev. Noel D. Vanek, Rev. Dr. Ronald
Wells and Gladys A. Philibert, respondents.
Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP, White Plains
(Patrick J. Lawless of counsel), for Rev. Nigel Pearce, Cynthia
James Rodriguez, Alethia West and Ivy Simons, respondents.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Milton A. Tingling, J.), entered February 25, 2011, which denied plaintiff's request for a preliminary injunction, dismissed all causes of action against the United Church of Christ defendants, and dismissed all causes of action except the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth against defendants Rev. Nigel Pearce, Cynthia James Rodriguez, Alethia West, and Ivy Simons brought in plaintiff's individual capacity, unanimously affirmed, without costs. Appeals from oral rulings, same court and Justice, rendered February 24, 2011, August 10, 2011, and August 29, 2011, and a decision, same court and Justice, rendered January 19, 2011, unanimously dismissed, without costs.

The court properly denied pro se plaintiff's request for a preliminary injunction, and correctly dismissed all causes of action against the United Church of Christ defendants, and all causes of action except the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth against defendants Rev. Nigel Pearce, Cynthia James Rodriguez, Alethia West, and Ivy Simons, which it properly ruled may be maintained only in plaintiff's individual capacity.

Plaintiff's purported appeals from various oral rulings of the court must be dismissed. No appeal lies from the court's rulings in open court, as the transcripts were not "so-ordered" by the court (see Sanchez de Hernandez v Bank of Nova Scotia, 76 AD3d 929, 931 [2010], lv denied 16 NY3d 705 [2011]), and a number of findings on the record were superseded by a written order [*2]from which plaintiff did not appeal. Similarly, "no appeal lies from a decision directing settle order'" (Hutchinson v City of New York, 18 AD3d 370 [2005]).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.

ENTERED: MAY 10, 2012

CLERK