By: Jeffrey M. Haber It is well-settled that a corporation (or limited liability company) acts through its officers, directors and owners. As a result, these individuals are normally not liable for the debts incurred by the corporation (or limited liability company). However, when an officer, director or shareholder abuses the corporate form to perpetrate a wrong or injustice against a third party, courts will intervene on behalf of the third party to hold the corporate actor

By Jonathan H. Freiberger This Blog has written numerous articles about RPAPL 1304 . See, e.g., < here =">here</a>"> , < here =">here</a>"> , < here =">here</a>"> , < here =">here</a>"> , < here =">here</a>"> and < here =">here</a>"> and the Blog articles linked to therein. By way of brief background as discussed in prior articles, RPAPL 1304 requires that at least ninety days before commencing legal action against a borrower with respect to a “home loan” (as defined in

By: Jeffrey M. Haber On October 31, 2023, the Appellate Division, First Department, unanimously affirmed the dismissal of a fraudulent inducement claim alleged in connection with the purchase of real property. 829 Greenwich St., LLC v. Slorer , 2023 N.Y. Slip Op. 05458 (Oct. 31, 2023) ( here ). The decision addresses a number of principles this Blog frequently examines, including: whether contractual disclaimers can preclude a fraudulent inducement claim; and whether the plai

By: Jeffrey M. Haber In New York, as in other jurisdictions, settlement agreements “are judicially favored, will not lightly be set aside,” and will be enforced “with rigor and without a searching examination into their substance.” 1 A court called upon to enforce a settlement must be satisfied that the agreement is “clear, final and the product of mutual accord.” 2 Thus, an out-of-court agreement settling an action is binding on each party to the agreement only if “it is i

By Jonathan H. Freiberger Once an attorney appears in an action on behalf of a client and becomes the attorney of record, the client is free to change counsel by filing with the clerk, a substitution of counsel stipulation, which must also be served on “the attorneys for all parties in the action or, if a party appears without an attorney, to the party.” CPLR 321 (b)(1). Additionally, an attorney of record “may withdraw or be changed by order of the court in which the acti

By: Jeffrey M. Haber 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 destruction of millions of pages of data on a Google Workspace states a claim for trespass to chattels or conversion ( here ). As discussed in that article, the court concluded that the allegations concerning the destruction of such data

By Jonathan H. Freiberger This Blog has previously addressed the question of whether a binding settlement can be reached through a series of emails as opposed to a fully integrated and formal written settlement agreement. See, e.g., < here =">here</a>"> , < here =">here</a>"> , < here =">here</a>"> , < here =">here</a>"> , < here =">here</a>"> and < here =">here</a>"> . These important issues bear repeating to avoid being bound to a settlement that one of the parties did

By: Jeffrey M. Haber Negligent misrepresentation and fraudulent inducement are, to some extent, cut from the same cloth. Both causes of action involve false statements. Often, though not always, the failure to satisfy the elements of one of the claims will result in the failure to satisfy the elements of the other. In Borovina v. ACAP Fund GP, LLC , 2023 N.Y. Slip Op. 05115 (2d Dept. Oct. 11, 2023) (here), the Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed the dismissal of a

By Jonathan H. Freiberger As previously noted in this Blog, there are two “components and constitutional predicates of personal jurisdiction.” Keane v. Kamin , 94 N.Y.2d 263, 265 (1999). “One component involves service of process, which implicates due process requirements of notice and opportunity to be heard.” Id. (citations omitted). Even though a defendant may be subject to the jurisdiction of the Court, dismissal may be sought “based on the claim that service was not p

Under the relation-back doctrine, new parties may be joined as defendants in a previously commenced action, after the statute of limitations has expired on the claims against them. The doctrine is codified in CPLR 203.

By: Jeffrey M. Haber In Gold v. Rothfeld , 2023 N.Y. Slip Op. 05006 (2d Dept. Oct. 4, 2023) ( here ), the Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed the dismissal of a fraud complaint on two grounds: collateral estoppel and failure to plead fraud with particularity. We examine the decision and the principles underpinning the holding below. The Requirement To Plead Fraud With Particularity To state a claim for fraud, a plaintiff must allege “a misrepresentation or a materi

By Jonathan H. Freiberger This Blog frequently addresses complex substantive and procedural issues. Today, however, we return to basics. In New York, an “action is commenced by the filing of a summons and complaint or a summons with notice in accordance with rule twenty-one hundred two ” of the CPLR. CPLR 304(a) . “Filing” means “the delivery of the summons with notice summons and complaint … to the clerk of the court in the county in which the action … is brought ….” C

As readers of this Blog know, one of the elements of a fraudulent inducement claim is “justifiable reliance.”

By: Jeffrey M. Haber In New York, foreign entities – that is, corporations, limited liability companies and partnerships authorized to do business in another jurisdiction or country – are required to register to business with the Secretary of State. 1 The failure to receive such authority deprives the foreign entity of the ability to affirmatively access the courts of New York and subjects any action commenced by the foreign entity to dismissal. 2 The purpose of the registra

By: Jeffrey M. Haber “The doctrine of forum non conveniens permits a US court to decline to exercise its judicial jurisdiction if the court would be a seriously inconvenient forum and if an adequate alternative forum exists.” 1 The doctrine presupposes at least two forums in which the defendant is amenable to process; the doctrine furnishes criteria for choice between them. 2 “The forum non conveniens determination is committed to the sound discretion of the trial court.

By Jonathan H. Freiberger Most often a lawsuit begins with the filing of a summons and complaint or summons with notice. CPLR 304 . Once the lawsuit is commenced, the plaintiff is required to serve the defendant(s) with process – the event by which the court obtains personal jurisdiction over the defendant(s). [This Blog has written about service of process, see, e.g. , < here =">here</a>"> , < here =">here</a>"> , < here =">here</a>"> and < here =">here</a>"> .] There a

By Jonathan H. Freiberger Sometimes someone receives a valuable benefit from your efforts and refuses to compensate you. If the “benefit” was the result of a contractual relationship, a lawsuit for the breach of that contract would be viable. What happens, however, where there is no contract on which to bring a claim? There are several theories of liability sounding in “quasi-contract” that may offer you relief for your efforts. While today’s post will focus on the quasi-

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 usury, was deemed “so violative of New York’s public policy that the choice-of-law provision” at issue was deemed invalid. The underlying predicate in that case was an agreement whereby the corporate defendant agreed to pay plaintiff $1,742,000 over the co

By: Jeffrey M. Haber It is well settled that parties to a contract are free to include choice-of-law provisions in their agreements. Such provisions are generally enforced by New York courts 1 and will be “interpreted so as to effectuate the parties’ intent.” 2 The freedom to contract, however, has limits. Courts will not, for example, enforce agreements that are illegal or where the chosen law violates “some fundamental principle of justice, some prevalent conception of goo

By Jonathan H. Freiberger Frequently, individuals or entities looking to purchase real property have insufficient savings to make the purchase with cash or otherwise do not want to purchase with cash. In such circumstances purchasers typically seek bank financing to consummate the purchase. At the time of contract purchasers are generally required to deliver a substantial down payment. Absent a mortgage contingency clause in the sale contract, the purchaser’s down payment