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O'Gorman v. Journal News Westchester12/29/2003
This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.
LEO F. McGINITY and ROBERT W. SCHMIDT, JJ.
DECISION & ORDER
(Index No. 5983/00)
In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., the plaintiffs appeal from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Rockland County (Nelson, J.), dated October 31, 2002, as denied their motion for partial summary judgment.
ORDERED that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.
The plaintiff Dennis O'Gorman (hereinafter the plaintiff) sustained injuries when his vehicle collided with a vehicle operated by the defendant Jean Alecenat. The plaintiff and his wife subsequently commenced an action to recover damages for personal injuries against Alcenat. During discovery, the plaintiff learned that Alcenat was delivering newspapers for the defendant Journal News Westchester (hereinafter the Journal News) at the time of the accident and that Alcenat received workers' compensation benefits for his injuries. Thereafter the plaintiff filed an amended summons and complaint naming the Journal News as an additional defendant. The complaint asserted that the Journal News should be held vicariously liable for Alcenat's actions, since Alcenat was employed by the Journal News and was operating the vehicle during the course of such employment at the time of the accident. In its answer, the Journal News denied that Alcenat was an employee operating the vehicle in the course of his employment. The plaintiff moved for partial summary judgment, arguing that the Journal News was collaterally estopped from denying that it was Alcenat's employer on the date of the accident since the Workers' Compensation Board (hereinafter the WCB) already determined that an employer-employee relationship existed between Alcenat and the Journal News on that date. The Journal News opposed the motion and cross-moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, arguing that Alcenat was an independent contractor and that the WCB's determination was not dispositive of whether Alcenat was the Journal News' employee for vicarious liability purposes. The Supreme Court denied both the motion and the cross motion, and the plaintiffs appeal from so much of the order as denied their motion for partial summary judgment.
The doctrine of collateral estoppel "precludes a party from relitigating in a subsequent action or proceeding an issue clearly raised in a prior action or proceeding and decided against that party or those in privity, whether or not the tribunals or causes of action are the same" (Ryan v New York Tel. Co., 62 NY2d 494, 500; see Rigopolous v American Museum of Natural History, 297 AD2d 728, 729; CRK Contr. of Suffolk v Brown & Assocs., 260 AD2d 530). Thus, the doctrine has been held to be applicable with respect to quasi-judicial determinations of administrative agencies, such as the WCB (see Rigopolous v American Museum of Natural History, supra; Caiola v Allcity Ins. Co., 257 AD2d 586, 587; Lee v Jones, 230 AD2d 435). However, " hile issue preclusion may arise from the determination of administrative agencies, in that context, the doctrine is applied more flexibly" (Allied Chem. v Niagara Mohawk Power Corp., 72 NY2d 271, 276, cert denied 488 US 1005). Moreover, "an administrative agency's final conclusion, characterized as an ultimate fact or a mixed question of fact and law, is not entitled to preclusive effect" (Akgul v Prime Time Transp., 293 AD2d 631, 633).
Applying the above principles to the facts of this case, the Supreme Court correctly denied the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment. Contrary to the opinion of our dissen
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