In Slocum o/b/o Nathan A. -v- Joseph B., 183 A.D.2d 102 (3rd Dept. 1992), the Court reversed the trial court's denial of a similar motion. The Appellate Division held that the child's paternity petition should have been dismissed because the earlier proceedings, wherein the same putative father was determined not to be the biological father, was a determination on the merits, and the mother and child were deemed to be in privity. In Slocum, the initial paternity application was commenced in 1976, thus, prior to the 1985 amendment of 522 which subsequently permitted a child to commence a paternity proceeding on his or her own behalf. A declaration of paternity in a filiation proceeding commenced by a child's mother, prior to 1985, not only was the predicate to establish support rights for the child, but other derivative rights such as Worker's Compensation and Social Security Benefits, et al. Therefore, the structure of the statute essentially required a mother to represent her child's interests. Another significant distinction is the fact that the underlying proceeding in Slocum was vigorously prosecuted by the child's mother. A full evidentiary hearing had been held which included testimony from the child's mother and her sister, apparently the only two witnesses who had relevant testimony to establish paternity. Following the hearing, the Family Court dismissed the mother's paternity proceeding upon a failure of proof. The Appellate Division noted that appellant did not argue, nor could it be inferred from the record that the earlier proceeding had not been prosecuted vigorously, or that Nathan's interest would have been better protected had a guardian ad litem been appointed for him in the prior proceeding.