| Cisneros v Cook |
| 2022 NY Slip Op 05784 [209 AD3d 519] |
| October 18, 2022 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| Michael Cisneros et al., Respondents, v Logan Cook et al., Appellants. |
Dhillon Law Group, Inc., New York (Ronald D. Coleman of counsel), for Logan Cook, appellant.
Binnall Law Group, PLLC, Alexandria, VA (Jesse R. Binall of the Idaho and Virginia bars, admitted pro hac vice, of counsel), and John E. Sweeney, Clifton Park (Robert M. Schecter of counsel), for Donald J. Trump and another, appellants.
Johnson Law, PLC, Detroit, MI (Vernon R. Johnson of the Michigan bar and Christopher P. Desmond, of the Michigan bar, admitted pro hac vice, of counsel), for Michael Cisneros and another, respondents.
Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi P.C., New York (Michael Lizzi of counsel), for Erica McKenna and another, respondents.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (David Benjamin Cohen, J.), entered on or about July 9, 2021, which, to the extent appealed from, denied defendants' request for attorneys' fees or other damages under Civil Rights Law § 70-a (1) (a), unanimously affirmed, with costs.
The November 2020 amendments to New York's anti-strategic lawsuit against public participation (anti-SLAPP) statutes (Civil Rights Law §§ 70-a, 76-a), which, among other things, mandate the award of costs and attorneys' fees to victims of SLAPP suits, do not apply retroactively (see Gottwald v Sebert, 203 AD3d 488 [1st Dept 2022]; see also Kurland & Assoc., P.C. v Glassdoor, Inc., 205 AD3d 545, 545 [1st Dept 2022]). Plaintiffs commenced this action in September 2020, a few months before the amendments were enacted. Thus, the court was not required to award attorneys' fees despite its finding that plaintiffs' lawsuit constituted a SLAPP suit (see Muller v Abbott, 25 AD3d 674 [2d Dept 2006], lv dismissed 6 NY3d 890 [2006], citing Matter of West Branch Conservation Assn. v Planning Bd. of Town of Clarkstown, 222 AD2d 513, 515 [2d Dept 1995]). In any event, the court providently exercised its discretion in declining to award attorneys' fees, and we find no basis to disturb its decision (see Goldstein v Held, 93 AD3d 689, 690 [2d Dept 2012]). Concur—Manzanet-Daniels, J.P., Mazzarelli, Oing, Kennedy, Mendez, JJ.