Case Name: Vincent Joseph Melapioni, Jr., Appellant, v. Lisa Melapioni, Now Known as Lisa Astorino, Respondent
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 2015-11-12
Citations: 133 A.D.3d 456
Docket Number: 
Parties: Vincent Joseph Melapioni, Jr., Appellant, v Lisa Melapioni, Now Known as Lisa Astorino, Respondent.
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 133
Pages: 456–457

Head Matter:
Vincent Joseph Melapioni, Jr., Appellant, v Lisa Melapioni, Now Known as Lisa Astorino, Respondent.
[18 NYS3d 859]

Opinion:
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Andrea Masley, J.), entered April 15, 2014, which, after a nonjury trial, dismissed the complaint with prejudice, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
The trial court correctly found that plaintiff failed to satisfy his burden of proof as to misappropriation and conversion and an accounting. Plaintiff argues that defendant, his mother, should have borne the burden of proving that she did not make an irrevocable gift to him of two bonds she received in connection with her 1993 divorce from his father, when plaintiff was three years old. He contends that the burden of proof was properly defendant's by virtue of the fiduciary relationship between parent and child. However, plaintiff failed to establish, as he alleged in the complaint, that defendant "was entrusted with bonds that were deposited in a custodial account for [his] benefit" (see Stevens v St. Joseph's Hosp., 52 AD2d 722, 722-723 [4th Dept 1976] ["The basis for an equitable action for accounting is the existence of a fiduciary or trust relationship respecting the subject matter of the controversy"]).
There is no basis for disturbing the trial court's determination, especially since its findings of fact were based, in large part, on an assessment of the witnesses' credibility (see Watts v State of New York, 25 AD3d 324 [1st Dept 2006]). Concur— Friedman, J.P., Acosta, Renwick, Andrias and Moskowitz, JJ.