In re Cadejah AA.
Opinion of the Court
Appeal from an order of the Family Court of Otsego County (Burns, J.), entered February 16, 2006, which dismissed petitioner’s application, in a proceeding pursuant to Family Ct Act article 10, for modification of a prior order of disposition.
Petitioner, acting pro se, filed a petition seeking to reopen and vacate an October 19, 2004 order of Family Court which was affirmed on her direct appeal (25 AD3d 1027 [2006]). No responsive papers were filed and Family Court summarily dismissed the petition without a hearing, finding that it did not state a cause of action. Petitioner appeals, and we affirm.
To succeed in a collateral challenge to Family Court’s previous order finding that petitioner had neglected her daughter, it was incumbent upon petitioner to demonstrate that her admissions supporting Family Court’s findings were not knowingly made or to otherwise show “good cause” to vacate the order (Family Ct Act § 1051 [f]; § 1061; see Matter of Jeffrey X., 283 AD2d 687, 688 [2001]). To the extent that the petition challenges the sufficiency of the record in the neglect proceeding to support a finding that petitioner made knowing and voluntary admissions of neglect, that issue was previously decided on the direct appeal and cannot be relitigated here (see Hejna v Reilly, 26 AD3d 709, 712 [2006]; Etzel v Etzel, 22 AD3d 906, 908 [2005]).
Cardona, P.J., Carpinello, Rose and Lahtinen, JJ., concur. Ordered that the order is affirmed, without costs.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.