In BLDG 44 Developers LLC v. Pace Companies N.Y., LLC, 2025 N.Y. Slip Op 32881(U) (Sup. Ct., N.Y. County July 25, 2025) (here), BLDG 44 Developers LLC sued Pace Companies New York, LLC for breach of contract, seeking...more
In Finkelstein v. U.S. Bank, N.A., 2025 N.Y. Slip Op 32882(U) (Sup. Ct., July 30, 2025) (here), plaintiff alleged that he was underpaid on his investment in a residential mortgage-backed securities (“RMBS”) trust due to the...more
8/26/2025
/ Breach of Contract ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Contract Terms ,
Demand Futility ,
Financial Institutions ,
Investors ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
Mortgage-Backed Securities ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
No-Action Clauses ,
Trusts
In today’s fraud notes, we examine two cases: K.M. v. Ursuline School of New Rochelle, 2025 N.Y. Slip Op. 04643 (2d Dept. Aug. 13, 2025) (here), and Three C, LLC v. City Settlement Serv., Inc., 2025 N.Y. Slip Op. 04678 (Aug....more
In Crawford v. Integrated Asset Mgt. Servs., LLC, 2025 N.Y. Slip Op. 01352 (2d Dept. Mar. 12, 2025) (here), the Appellate Division, Second Department reversed the denial of the defendants’ motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’...more
We have written frequently about the substance and scope of general releases. In New York, “a valid release constitutes a complete bar to an action on a claim which is the subject of the release.” If “the language of a...more
In Katsorhis v. 718 W. Beech St, LLC, 2025 N.Y. Slip Op. 00211 (1st Dept. Jan. 15, 2025) (here), the Appellate Division, Second Department considered a fraud claim that the lower court sustained on the grounds that defendant...more
1/27/2025
/ Breach of Contract ,
Construction Contracts ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Damages ,
Evidence ,
Fraud ,
Misleading Statements ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Property Owners ,
Real Estate Development ,
Real Estate Transactions
Under New York law, written agreements are construed in accordance with the parties’ intent. “The best evidence of what parties to a written agreement intend is what they say in their writing.” As such, “a written agreement...more
1/14/2025
/ Appeals ,
Assignments ,
Breach of Contract ,
Contract Interpretation ,
Contract Modification ,
Contract Terms ,
Evidence ,
Litigation Strategies ,
New York ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Written Agreements
In Singh v. T-Mobile, 2024 N.Y. Slip Op. 05554 (2d Dept. Nov. 13, 2024) (here), the Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed the dismissal of an action for, among other things, breach of contract, breach of the covenant...more
11/18/2024
/ Breach of Contract ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
Compensation ,
Conspiracies ,
Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing ,
Dismissals ,
Fraud ,
Management Agreements ,
Sprint ,
T-Mobile ,
Unjust Enrichment
In Seitz v. Marcum LLP, 2024 N.Y. Slip Op. 51141(U) (Sup. Ct., N.Y. County Aug. 30, 2024) (here), Justice Robert R. Reed of the New York County Commercial Division addressed the doctrine of in pari delicto, which “bars a...more
9/17/2024
/ Accountant Malpractice ,
Affirmative Defenses ,
Audits ,
Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
DEA ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
In Pari Delicto ,
Insurance Fraud ,
Kickbacks ,
Negligence ,
Popular ,
Professional Liability ,
Purchase Agreement ,
Unjust Enrichment
“A third-party beneficiary … is a person or entity that receives benefits from a contract between two other parties, even though they are not a party to the contract.” The concept of a third-party beneficiary stems from the...more
To state a cause of action for fraud, a plaintiff must allege “a material misrepresentation of a fact, knowledge of its falsity, an intent to induce reliance, justifiable reliance by the plaintiff and damages.” The...more
6/3/2024
/ Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
CPLR ,
Damages ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fraud ,
Gross Negligence ,
Justifiable Reliance ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Misrepresentation ,
New York ,
Scienter
The foundation of virtually every business and commercial transaction is a contract. It is difficult to imagine a transaction for the purchase or sale of goods, the merger or acquisition of a business, or the provision of...more
A common theme in commercial litigation is the assertion of a breach of contract claim and a fraudulent inducement claim. A plaintiff claiming a breach of contract must show (1) the existence of a contract; (2) the...more
As readers of this Blog know, we often write about the pleading requirements under the Civil Practice Law and Rules (“CPLR”). In that regard, many of our articles involve cases in which CPLR 3016(b) is at issue – the...more
12/18/2023
/ Breach of Contract ,
Business Disparagement ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
CPLR ,
Defamation ,
False Statements ,
Fraud ,
Insubordination Policy ,
Libel ,
Reasonable Particularity Requirement ,
Slander
By: Jeffrey M. Haber In TD Bank, N.A. v. Keenan, 2023 N.Y. Slip Op. 06158 (2d Dept. Nov. 29, 2023) (here), the Appellate Division, Second Department examined the often “nettlesome” question of whether a plaintiff claiming...more
12/14/2023
/ Breach of Contract ,
Default ,
Due Diligence ,
Foreclosure ,
Fraud ,
HELOC ,
Misrepresentation ,
Mortgages ,
Objective Falsity ,
Omissions ,
Reasonable Reliance Claims ,
Title Insurance ,
Unjust Enrichment ,
Verification Requirements
In Stagen v. Neu, 2023 N.Y. Slip Op. 06105 (1st Dept. Nov. 28, 2023), the Appellate Division, First Department addressed an issue of contract interpretation involving a word in a settlement agreement that most readers would...more
As we have often explained in the articles in which we have examined fraud claims, to withstand a motion to dismiss, the plaintiff must plead fraud with particularity as required under CPLR § 3106(b), cannot lump all the...more
A couple of months ago, we examined NW Media Holdings Corp. v. IBT Media Inc., 2023 N.Y. Slip Op. 30875(U) (Sup. Ct., N.Y. County Mar. 22, 2023) (here), a case in which a lower court addressed the question whether the...more
10/31/2023
/ Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
Constructive Trusts ,
Conversion ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Data Deletion ,
Declaratory Relief ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fraudulent Inducement ,
Google ,
Merger Clause ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Promissory Estoppel ,
Purchase Agreement ,
Shareholder Votes ,
Trespass to Chattel ,
Written Agreements
By: Jeffrey M. Haber In our last article (here), we examined a choice-of-law provision that, if applied, would violate New York public policy concerning usurious loans. In that case, Virginia law, which does not prohibit...more
On August 23, 2023, the Appellate Division, Second Department issued two decisions that briefly touched upon fraud causes of action: Hershman v. Bank of N.Y. Mellon, 2023 N.Y. Slip Op. 04369 (2d Dept. Aug. 22, 2023) (here),...more