The City of New York sued the County of Nassau seeking reimbursement of police training expenses pursuant to General Municipal Law §72-c incurred on behalf of two police officers formerly employed by the New York City Police Department.
The Appellate Division held the City established its prima facie entitlement to an award of
$88,689.96 in reimbursement costs by submitting an affidavit of the Director of
the Management and Budget Analysis Section of the NYPD, which itemized the
reimbursable amounts owed for each officer under General Municipal Law §72-c.
Contrary to the County's contention, the City submitted sufficient evidence in
support of its methods of calculation.
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City of New York v County of Nassau |
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2024 NY Slip Op 03468 |
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Decided on |
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Appellate Division, Second Department |
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Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
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This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports. |
Decided on June 26, 2024 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Appellate
Division, Second Judicial Department
COLLEEN D. DUFFY, J.P.
ROBERT J. MILLER
WILLIAM G. FORD
LAURENCE L. LOVE, JJ.
2022-00177
(Index No. 604244/14)
[*1]City of
v
Thomas A. Adams,
Muriel Goode-Trufant, Acting Corporation Counsel,
DECISION & ORDER
In an action for reimbursement of police training expenses
pursuant to General Municipal Law § 72-c, the defendant appeals from an order
of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Roy S. Mahon, J.), entered January 4,
2022. The order granted the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment on the
complaint.
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, with costs.
The plaintiff, City of New York, commenced this action against the
defendant, County of Nassau, for reimbursement of police training expenses
pursuant to General Municipal Law § 72-c incurred on behalf of two police
officers formerly employed by the New York City Police Department (hereinafter
the NYPD). According to the complaint, the officers attended and graduated from
the NYPD police academy in 2012. In 2013, both officers resigned from the NYPD
to work as police officers in the Nassau County Police Department. In an order
entered
The City established its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a
matter of law on the complaint seeking reimbursement of police training
expenses for the two officers. General Municipal Law § 72-c provides in
relevant part: "whenever a member of the police department of a municipal
corporation has attended a police training school, the expense of which was
borne by such municipal corporation, terminates employment with such municipal
corporation and commences employment with any other municipal corporation or
employer county sheriff, such employer municipal corporation or employer county
sheriff shall reimburse the prior employer municipal corporation for such
expenses . . . if such change in employment occurs within three years of such
member's graduation from police training school." Here, the City
established that the two officers successfully completed police training at the
NYPD police academy, and that both officers left their employment with the NYPD
and joined the Nassau County Police Department prior to completing three years
of service with the NYPD.
In opposition, the County failed to raise a triable issue of fact.
Contrary to the County's contention, the NYPD police academy qualifies as a
"police training school" within the meaning of General Municipal Law
§ 72-c because the statute's "words of ordinary import" should be
construed "with their usual and commonly understood meaning" (Rosner
v Metropolitan Prop. & Liab. Ins. Co., 96 NY2d 475, 479). Further, the
statute does not require that police officers be issued a certificate of
satisfactory completion of a police basic training program by the Municipal
Police Training Council (hereinafter MPTC) (see Executive Law §
839), as provided for by General Municipal Law § 209-q(1)(a), in order to
trigger entitlement to reimbursement under General Municipal Law § 72-c.
Indeed, in order to transfer from the police department of another municipality
to the Nassau County Police Department, a police officer who does not have an
MPTC certificate may obtain a waiver by showing completion of equivalent police
officer training. Thus, a waiver of the MPTC certification requirement of
General Municipal Law § 209-q may be obtained for officers who received police
training from the NYPD.
The City established its prima facie entitlement to an award of
$88,689.96 in reimbursement costs by submitting an affidavit of the Director of
the Management and Budget Analysis Section of the NYPD, which itemized the
reimbursable amounts owed for each officer under General Municipal Law § 72-c.
Contrary to the County's contention, the City submitted sufficient evidence in
support of its methods of calculation.
In opposition, the County failed to raise a triable issue of fact.
Contrary to the County's contention, the statute provides for reimbursement for
the "expense" borne by a municipal corporation for an officer's attendance
at a police training school, and that "such expenses" include
"salary, tuition, enrollment fees, books, and the cost of transportation
to and from training school" (id.). As there is no indication that
the Legislature intended to restrict the applicability of the statute to the
listed expense categories, the court will not create such a limitation (see Matter of Theroux v Reilly, 1 NY3d 232, 240).
Accordingly, the Supreme Court properly granted the City's motion
for summary judgment on the complaint and determined that it was entitled to an
award of $88,689.96 in reimbursement costs pursuant to General Municipal Law §
72-c.
DUFFY, J.P., MILLER, FORD and LOVE, JJ., concur.
ENTER:
Darrell M. Joseph
Clerk of the Court