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DIAMOND v. CITY OF NEW YORK
February 2, 2005.
SUSAN DIAMOND, Plaintiff,
v.
CITY OF NEW YORK, et al., Defendants.
The opinion of the court was delivered by: LEWIS KAPLAN, District Judge
This Section 1983 action was settled in 2003 for the sum of
$75,000. In May 2004, plaintiff filed a so-called Verified
Petition, evidently in the belief that this commenced a special
proceeding. The petition seeks the establishment and approval of
a Supplemental Needs Trust for the benefit of plaintiff pursuant
to N.Y. EPTL § 7-1.12.
This Court's approval of the settlement and dismissal of the
action concluded the case. The Court no longer has jurisdiction
over the settlement, as no reservation of jurisdiction was sought
or granted. See Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am.,
511 U.S. 375 (1994). Moreover, the Court sees no basis of federal
subject matter jurisdiction even if it were to treat the petition
as commencing a new civil action.*fn1 Finally, counsel has
not drawn the Court's attention to any provision of law that
would give it authority to establish or approve such a trust,
even if it had subject matter jurisdiction.
Accordingly, the petition is denied without prejudice to any
action plaintiff may take in the state courts.