IN RE KAREN MATSEOANE, ETC., DECEASED. KAREN MATSEOANE, pet-res, v. SUBTLE ENGINEERING COMPANY, Objectant-ap

10885. IN RE KAREN MATSEOANE, ETC., DECEASED. KAREN MATSEOANE, pet-res, v. SUBTLE ENGINEERING COMPANY, Objectant-ap — Joseph A. Altman, Bronx, for ap — Hubell & Associates, LLC, New York (Richard A. Hubell of counsel), for res — Order, Surrogate’s Court, New York County (Kristin Booth Glen, S.), entered October 18, 2012, which granted petitioner’s motion for summary judgment, dismissed the objections, and awarded sanctions against objectant, consisting of reimbursement of petitioner’s attorneys’ fees and costs, and $2,500 against appellant’s attorney, payable to the Lawyer’s Fund for Client Protection, unanimously affirmed, with costs.

Objectant was a judgment creditor of the decedent, whose judgment was discharged in bankruptcy prior to the decedent’s death, based on objectant’s failure to prosecute the adversary proceeding he had commenced in the Bankruptcy Court. Objectant then filed a petition in Surrogate’s Court for the appointment of an administrator of the estate of the decedent, and represented to the Surrogate that this was necessary in order for the Bankruptcy Court to accept its motion to vacate the dismissal of its adversary proceeding. However, after petitioner was appointed administrator of the decedent’s estate, objectant and its counsel continued to litigate in Surrogate’s Court for two years, without filing the motion in Bankruptcy Court. Moreover, in response to a question from the Surrogate, objectant’s attorney denied that objectant’s judgment had been discharged, although he had received a copy of the order dismissing the adversary proceeding brought in Bankruptcy Court.