Majority
—In a proceeding pursuant to CPLR 7503
Ordered that the appeal is dismissed, with costs, and the order is declared to be a nullity.
An action cannot be maintained against a party who is not a natural or artificial person having legal capacity to be sued (see, MacAffer v Boston & Me. R. R., 242 App Div 140 , 144-145, affd 268 NY 400 ; 59 Am Jur 2d, Parties, § 42; 67A CJS Parties § 41). A proceeding to permanently stay arbitration cannot be brought against the estate of a decedent before the appointment of a legal representative (see, MacAffer v Boston & Me. R. R., supra). In this case, the decedent died prior to the commencement of this proceeding and a personal representative has not been appointed to represent the estate. Therefore, the order appealed from is a nullity and this Court has no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal (see, Cooper v Volk, 157 AD2d 766 ; Bossert v Ford Motor Co., 140 AD2d 480 ). Miller, J. P., Ritter, Sullivan, Santucci and McGinity, JJ., concur.
Cases cited
- MacAffer v. Boston & Maine Railroad 268 NY 400 p. 486
- Bossert v. Ford Motor Co. 140 AD2d 480 p. 486