| Robin BB. v State of New York |
| 2008 NY Slip Op 08588 [56 AD3d 932] |
| November 13, 2008 |
| Appellate Division, Third Department |
| Robin BB., as Parent and Guardian of Skyler BB., et al.,Appellants, v State of New York, Respondent. |
—[*1] Andrew M. Cuomo, Attorney General, Albany (Kathleen M. Arnold of counsel), forrespondent.
Kavanagh, J. Appeal from a judgment of the Court of Claims (Siegel, J.), entered July 26,2007, which, among other things, granted defendant's motion to dismiss the claim.
In January 2007, claimants filed a claim alleging that "[b]eginning on or about 1998 throughJune 22, 2005 in the Town of Massena, County of St. Lawrence and State of New York, andvarious other locations in St. Lawrence County," Stephen Kotzen sexually abused and rapedSkyler BB., claimant Christopher CC. and claimant Edward DD.[FN*]Contending that such acts occurred while Kotzen was in the course of his employment as a statelaw enforcement officer, claimants alleged that the State was vicariously liable for Kotzen'sconduct and, further, that the State had assumed a special relationship as to them. Defendantmoved to dismiss asserting, among other things, that the claim failed to sufficiently allege thetime when and place where the [*2]claim arose. Claimantsopposed the motion and cross-moved for leave to amend their claim. The Court of Claims,among other things, granted defendant's motion to dismiss, finding that the underlying claim wasjurisdictionally defective. This appeal by claimants ensued.
We affirm. Court of Claims Act § 11 (b) provides, in relevant part, that a claim "shallstate the time when and place where such claim arose." The purpose of the pleading requirementscontained therein "is to provide a sufficiently detailed description of the particulars of the claimto enable [defendant] to investigate and promptly ascertain the existence and extent of itsliability" (Sinski v State of New York, 265 AD2d 319, 319 [1999]). To that end,defendant is not required "to ferret out or assemble information that section 11 (b) obligates theclaimant to allege" (Lepkowski v Stateof New York, 1 NY3d 201, 208 [2003]), and the failure to comply with the statutoryrequirements mandates dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction (see Czynski v State of New York, 53AD3d 881, 882-883 [2008]; Riverav State of New York, 52 AD3d 1075, 1076 [2008]; Signature Health Ctr., LLC v State of New York, 42 AD3d 678,679 [2007]). Here, claimants have alleged only that Kotzen engaged in numerous acts of sexualmisconduct at various locations in St. Lawrence County over the course of an eight-year period.Such allegations fall short of satisfying the pleading requirements of Court of Claims Act §11 (b) and, as such, defendant's motion to dismiss was properly granted.
Cardona, P.J., Mercure, Lahtinen and Kane, JJ., concur. Ordered that the judgment isaffirmed, without costs.
Footnote *: Kotzen previously pleadedguilty to two counts of attempted sodomy in the first degree and attempted criminal sexual act inthe first degree and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment.