Matter of Enders v Erie County Dept. of Social Servs.

Holding The court affirmed the lower court’s denial of the petition to dismiss for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, finding that the exhaustion rule is subject to exceptions when administrative processes are futile due to time constraints. The court determined that the petitioner was not obligated to wait for a scheduled fair hearing to seek judicial assistance for immediate temporary housing assistance.

The court’s words

exhaust all administrative remedies before seeking judicial review [where] an agency's action is challenged as either unconstitutional or wholly beyond its grant of power

2026 NY Slip Op 04660, at the official text

assisting the needy is a matter of constitutional command, not legislative grace

2026 NY Slip Op 04660, at the official text

fair hearing procedure, although adequate to satisfy aggrieved parties in most instances, lacks the immediacy that situations involving emergencies warrant

2026 NY Slip Op 04660, at the official text

not obligated to exhaust [their] administrative remedies by requesting a fair hearing . . . prior to seeking judicial assistance [where] to do so would have been a futile effort due to time constraints

2026 NY Slip Op 04660, at the official text