Perry-Bottinger v Bottinger

Perry-Bottinger v Bottinger 2009 NY Slip Op 09710 [68 AD3d 670] December 29, 2009 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. As corrected through Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Lynne Perry-Bottinger, Appellant,
v
Erwin Bottinger, Respondent. Frederic P. Schneider, Nonparty Respondent.

—[*1] Dobrish Zeif Gross LLP, New York (Nina S. Gross of counsel), for appellant.

Warner Partners, P.C., New York (Rita W. Warner of counsel), for respondent.

Frederic P. Schneider, New York, pro se.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Harold Beeler, J.), entered October 15, 2008, which denied plaintiff's motion to disqualify the attorney for the children, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

The record supports the claim of the attorney for the children that the professional opinion he formed as to the impairment of the children, which reflected his unfavorable judgment of plaintiff's character and influence, was a result of his interactions with the parties during the course of his representation and his consideration of the conclusions in the forensic report and proof of plaintiff's conduct. His advocacy of the children's best interests based on that opinion was a proper exercise of his authority and does not form a basis for his disqualification (see Matter of Carballeira v Shumway, 273 AD2d 753 [2000], lv denied 95 NY2d 764 [2000]). We reject plaintiff's contention that the attorney was impermissibly biased against her.

We have considered plaintiff's remaining contentions and find them unavailing. Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P., Catterson, Moskowitz, Richter and Manzanet-Daniels, JJ.