It is well settled law that an order of reference to a Judicial Hearing Officer (J.H.O.) to hear and determine is permissible only with the consent of the parties (CPLR 4317 [a]; McCormack v McCormack, 174 AD2d 612; Haibi v Haibi, 171 AD2d 842), and that such consent is an "essential jurisdictional predicate" ( Litman, Asche, Lupkin Gioiella v Arashi, 192 AD2d 403).
In the matter before us, the Order to Show Cause signed by the Judicial Hearing Officer represents J.H.O. Toker to be a Justice of the Supreme Court, while the June 28, 1995 order which is on appeal indicates his actual position as Judicial Hearing Officer. There is no record of an order of reference or an agreement between the parties to have a Judicial Hearing Officer decide United States Liability's motion. Since there is no demonstration that United States Liability acquiesced in the submission of its motion to a Judicial Hearing Officer, the order must be vacated.