Matter of Lancaster v Chun
2026 NY Slip Op 01201 [247 AD3d 765]
March 4, 2026
Appellate Division, Second Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law ยง 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, May 6, 2026
In the Matter of Herman Lancaster, Petitioner,
v
Danny Chun, as Acting Justice of the Supreme Court, Kings County, Respondent.
March 4, 2026
HEADNOTES
Proceeding against Body or Officer — Mandamus — Failure to Demonstrate Clear Legal Right
APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL
Herman Lancaster, Ossining, NY, petitioner pro se.
Letitia James, Attorney General, New York, NY (Charles F. Sanders of counsel), for respondent.
Proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, inter alia, in effect, in the nature of mandamus to compel the respondent, Danny Chun, an Acting Justice of the Supreme Court, Kings County, to sign a proposed order to show cause in an action entitled People v Lancaster, commenced in that court under indictment No. 787/15. Motion by the petitioner for a waiver of costs, fees, and expenses.
Upon the papers filed in support of the motion and no papers having been filed in opposition or in relation thereto, it is
Ordered that the motion for a waiver of costs, fees, and expenses is granted to the extent that the filing fee imposed by CPLR 8022 (b) is waived, and the motion is otherwise denied as academic; and it is further,
Adjudged that the petition is denied and the proceeding is dismissed on the merits, without costs or disbursements.
The extraordinary remedy of mandamus will lie only to compel the performance of a ministerial act, and only where there exists a clear legal right to the relief sought (see Matter of Legal Aid Socy. of Sullivan County v Scheinman, 53 NY2d 12, 16 [1981]). The petitioner has failed to demonstrate a clear legal right to the relief sought. Barros, J.P., Wan, McCormack and Hom, JJ., concur.