Town of North E. v Bordages

Town of N. E. v Bordages 2006 NY Slip Op 07976 [34 AD3d 226] November 2, 2006 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. As corrected through Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Town of North East et al., Respondents,
v
Janet S. Bordages et al., Appellants, et al., Defendant.

—[*1]

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Louis B. York, J.), entered November 16, 2005, which denied defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiffs set forth a cause of action for fraudulent conveyance pursuant to Debtor and Creditor Law § 273-a. The court-ordered consent decree in the federal cost recovery action, brought under the Superfund Act (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 [CERCLA] 42 USC § 9601 et seq.) against Azon Corporation (of which defendants were directors and/or shareholders or relatives thereof), constituted a final judgment for purposes of the statute (see Buckhannon Board & Care Home, Inc. v West Virginia Dept. of Health & Human Resources, 532 US 598, 604 [2001]; Rufo v Inmates of Suffolk County Jail, 502 US 367, 378 [1992]).

Because the State of New York was always a party in interest pursuant to the state assistance contract (see ECL 27-1313 [5] [g]; 52-0303 [4]), the amended complaint specified the Town of North East's legal obligation to recover state monies. When the State joined as a party plaintiff, nunc pro tunc (Fed Rules Civ Pro rule 17 [a]), the court properly held that the State was a party to this action as of the time those monies were transferred from the corporation to defendants. [*2]

We have considered defendant's remaining arguments and find them unavailing. Concur—Tom, J.P., Mazzarelli, Andrias, Sweeny and Malone, JJ.