| Palladino v CNY Centro, Inc. |
| 2012 NY Slip Op 08926 [101 AD3d 1653] |
| December 21, 2012 |
| Appellate Division, Fourth Department |
| Eugene Palladino, Respondent, v CNY Centro, Inc., et al.,Appellants. |
—[*1] Blitman & King LLP, Syracuse (Kenneth L. Wagner of counsel), for defendants-appellantsCharles Watson, as Business Agent of Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 580 and AmalgamatedTransit Union, Local 580. Robert Louis Riley, Syracuse, for plaintiff-respondent.
Appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Onondaga County (James P. Murphy, J.), enteredApril 12, 2012. The order, insofar as appealed from, denied in part the motions of defendants forsummary judgment.
It is hereby ordered that the order insofar as appealed from is unanimously reversed on the lawwithout costs, the motions are granted in their entirety and the amended complaints are dismissed.
Memorandum: Defendants appeal from an order that granted only in part their respective motionsseeking summary judgment dismissing the amended complaints against them. We agree with defendantsthat Supreme Court should have granted their motions in their entirety. Defendants AmalgamatedTransit Union, Local 580 (Union) and Charles Watson, as business agent of the Union, contend that theUnion is a voluntary unincorporated association and that plaintiff has failed even to plead that theUnion's conduct was authorized or ratified by the entire membership of the association. We agree(see Martin v Curran, 303 NY 276, 282 [1951]; Zanghi v Laborers' Intl. Union of N. Am., AFL-CIO, 8 AD3d 1033,1034 [2004], lv denied 4 NY3d 703 [2005]). Thus, we further agree with those defendantsthat plaintiff's contention that the Union breached its duty of fair representation is "fatally defective"(Walsh v Torres-Lynch, 266 AD2d 817, 818 [1999]). In light of our conclusion, we do notaddress defendants' remaining contentions. Present—Scudder, P.J., Centra, Valentino, Whalenand Martoche, JJ.