SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department

1100 

CAE 15-01569 

PRESENT: SCUDDER, P.J., SMITH, LINDLEY, AND VALENTINO, JJ. 

 

JOEY P. DELABIO, CITIZEN OBJECTOR AGGRIEVED, 

PETITIONER-RESPONDENT, 

V MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

LORA ALLEN AND JENNIFER FRONCZAK, COMMISSIONERS 

CONSTITUTING NIAGARA COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS, 

GREGORY PETERSON, DOUGLAS KELLNER, PETER KOSINSKI 

AND ANDREW SPANO, COMMISSIONERS CONSTITUTING NEW 

YORK STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS, KATHRYN L. 

PALKA-LANCE, CANDIDATE, RESPONDENTS-RESPONDENTS,

BARBARA FIALA, KATHLEEN JOY, RACHEL GOLD, VIVIAN 

VILORIA-FISHER, SUSAN ZIMET, LYNN KOPKA, COLLEEN 

ANDERSON, DIANE DIMEO, LORIE BARNUM, DIANE CIHAK, 

RESPONDENTS-APPELLANTS,

MARY JO TAMBURLIN, JAMIE SLOCUM, HEATHER COLLINS, 

NANCY R. GIOVANELLI, BERNADETTE FOX, CECILIA TKACZYK,

RYNN (HANNAH) REED, MOHINI SHARMA, VIRGINIA SCHOLOMITI, 

JOY BLACK, SANDRA MCGARRAUGH, PURPORTED OFFICERS 

AND MEMBERS OF INTERIM COMMITTEE(S) OF WOMEN’S 

EQUALITY PARTY, RESPONDENTS-RESPONDENTS,

AND THE WOMEN’S EQUALITY PARTY, RESPONDENT-APPELLANT. 

 

GREENBERG TRAURIG LLP, NEW YORK CITY (CARMEN BEAUCHAMP CIPARICK OF

COUNSEL), FOR RESPONDENTS-APPELLANTS.

SHAWN P. NICKERSON, NORTH TONAWANDA, FOR PETITIONER-RESPONDENT. 

CLAUDE A. JOERG, COUNTY ATTORNEY, LOCKPORT, FOR

RESPONDENTS-RESPONDENTS LORA ALLEN AND JENNIFER FRONCZAK,

COMMISSIONERS CONSTITUTING NIAGARA COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS. 

LAW OFFICE OF JOHN R. DREXELIUS, JR., KENMORE (JOHN R. DREXELIUS, JR.,

OF COUNSEL), FOR RESPONDENTS-RESPONDENTS MARY JO TAMBURLIN, JAMIE

SLOCUM, HEATHER COLLINS, NANCY R. GIOVANELLI, AND BERNADETTE FOX.

PETER A. REESE, BUFFALO, FOR RESPONDENTS-RESPONDENTS CECILIA TKACZYK,

RYNN (HANNAH) REED, MOHINI SHARMA, VIRGINIA SCHOLOMITI, JOY BLACK, AND

SANDRA MCGARRAUGH, PURPORTED OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF INTERIM

COMMITTEE(S) OF WOMEN’S EQUALITY PARTY.
-2- 1100 

CAE 15-01569 

SINNREICH, KOSAKOFF & MESSINA, LLP, CENTRAL ISLIP (JOHN CIAMPOLI OF

COUNSEL), FOR ANN VAN SAVAGE, CHRISTINA RUOCCO, REBECCA LUMSDEN AND

BIJOY DATTA, CHAIRMAN OF THE BROOME COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY COMMITTEE,

AMICUS CURIAE.

Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Niagara County (Frank

Caruso, J.), entered September 14, 2015 in a proceeding pursuant to

Election Law article 16. The order, insofar as appealed from,

enjoined respondents-appellants from issuing any certificate of

nomination in the name of the Women’s Equality Party unless and until

a majority of candidates certifies a set of rules. 

It is hereby ORDERED that the order insofar as appealed from is

unanimously reversed on the law without costs, and the injunction is

vacated insofar as granted as against respondents-appellants. 

Memorandum: Respondents-appellants (respondents) appeal from an

order insofar as it enjoined them from issuing any certificate of

nomination in the name of respondent-appellant Women’s Equality Party

(WEP) unless and until a majority of its statewide candidates in the

2014 general election certifies a set of rules. We agree with

respondents that Supreme Court erred in granting the injunction

against them, and we therefore reverse the order insofar as appealed

from and vacate the injunction accordingly. 

Petitioner commenced this proceeding seeking, inter alia, to

challenge the certificate nominating respondent Kathryn L. Palka-Lance

as a candidate for Niagara County Legislature on the WEP line in the

2015 general election. Petitioner alleges that three separate groups

have filed rules with the New York State Board of Elections in the

name of the WEP. Those groups include respondents, whose rules have

been certified by Governor Andrew Cuomo and Lieutenant Governor

Kathleen Hochul, and another group, whose rules were signed by Mary Jo

Tamburlin, as purported chairman of the 2015 organizational meeting of

the WEP, and Jamie Slocum, as purported secretary thereof

(collectively, Tamburlin group), and it is the Tamburlin group that

filed the certificate nominating Palka-Lance. Petitioner sought an

order, inter alia, invalidating Palka-Lance’s certificate of

nomination, enjoining the Niagara County Board of Elections from

placing Palka-Lance’s name on the ballot in the 2015 general election,

and enjoining any of the three groups from making nominations in the

name of the WEP unless under rules certified by a majority of the

statewide candidates, and the court granted that relief.

We agree with respondents that, under the circumstances

presented, the court abused its discretion in granting the injunctive

relief against them inasmuch as Election Law § 16-102 provided

petitioner an adequate remedy to challenge Palka-Lance’s certificate

of nomination (see generally Matter of Gournet v Lefkowitz, 27 AD2d

809, 809). The issue whether Palka-Lance’s certificate of nomination

required invalidation under the Election Law may be decided without

reaching the issue whether respondents’ rules are valid. Respondents

contend, inter alia, that there is no “question or conflict relating
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CAE 15-01569 

to the rules or the rule-making body” for purposes of Election Law §

6-128 (4). Even assuming, arguendo, that there is a “question or

conflict” for purposes of section 6-128 (4), there is no dispute that

the Tamburlin group’s rules, pursuant to which Palka-Lance’s

certificate of nomination was filed, may not be “deemed to be the

rules” of the WEP for purposes of the statute, because no statewide

candidate in the 2014 general election has certified those rules. We

therefore agree with respondents that the injunction should be vacated

insofar as it was granted against them (see generally Matter of Peluso

v Erie County Independence Party, 66 AD3d 1329, 1330; Matter of Master

v Pohanka, 44 AD3d 1050, 1053-1054). 

Finally, because we conclude that Election Law § 16-102 provided

petitioner with an adequate remedy in this case, and because we agree

with respondents that the validity of their party rules would be

decided more appropriately in the context of a challenge to a

certificate of nomination filed by respondents pursuant to their

rules, we decline to grant any further relief (cf. Matter of Peluso v

Erie County Independence Party, 13 NY3d 139, 140; see generally Matter

of Morgenthau v Erlbaum, 59 NY2d 143, 148, cert denied 464 US 993;

Rockland Light & Power Co. v City of New York, 289 NY 45, 50-51). 

Entered: September 24, 2015 Frances E. Cafarell

Clerk of the Court