JURIST – Paper Chase: New York appeals court rules state can annul same-sex civil unions
New York appeals court rules state can annul same-sex civil unions
Daniel Makosky at 10:22 AM ET
[JURIST] A New York state appeals court ruled [text, PDF] Thursday that the state’s courts have jurisdiction to hear requests to annul civil unions performed in other states. The Third Judicial Department Appellate Division [official website] reversed a2008 Schenectady County Supreme Court [official website] decision, citing multiple protections New York affords to same-sex partnerships as sufficient to establish competency despite the state lacking its own civil union law:
Here, while New York has not created a specific mechanism for dissolution of a civil union validly entered into in another state, neither has it exercised its power, by statute or other legislative enactment, to prohibit an action for dissolution of a civil union. Since Supreme Court’s jurisdiction over the subject matter of this action has not been proscribed, and this matter involves a dispute for which “adequate relief by means of an existing form of action is [un]available to the plaintiff,” Supreme Court is competent to adjudicate the case.
The case involved a same-sex New York couple that that entered into a civil union in Vermont. Vermont, however, was unable to provide relief since it requires at least one party to be a resident of the state for at least one year.
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