By: Jeffrey M. Haber Under Section 10(a) of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), a court will vacate an arbitral award for the following reasons: (1) the award was procured by corruption, fraud, or undue means; (2) there was evident partiality or corruption in the arbitrators . . . ; (3) the arbitrators were guilty of misconduct in refusing to postpone the hearing, or in refusing to hear evidence pertinent and material to the controversy, or of any other misbehavior by which

By Jonathan H. Freiberger Today’s Blog involves motions to renew and reargue and successive motions for summary judgment. When a motion is denied, a movant has several options. One can accept the loss and move on. An appeal can also be pursued. Additional options are also available under CPLR 2221 , which permits a movant to move for renewal or reargument. A motion to renew is “properly made to the motion court (CPLR 2221) to draw its attention to material facts which, al

By: Jeffrey M. Haber A “short sale” is the sale of a security that the seller does not own or any sale that is consummated by the delivery of a security borrowed by, or for the account of, the seller. In order to deliver the security to the purchaser, the short seller will borrow the security, typically from a broker-dealer or an institutional investor. The short seller later closes out the position by purchasing equivalent securities on the open market, or by using an equiva

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 sufficed to state a c

By Jonathan H. Freiberger Generally speaking, “term sheets” outline the basic terms of a transaction being negotiated by the parties thereto. This Blog has previously addressed the enforceability of “term sheets.” See, e.g., < here =">here</a>"> , < here =">here</a>"> , < here =">here</a>"> , < here =">here</a>"> , < here =">here</a>"> and < here =">here</a>"> . On June 15, 2023, the Appellate Division, First Department, decided Parkmerced Investors, LLC v. WeWork Companie

By: Jeffrey M. Haber The doctrine of collateral estoppel prevents a party from relitigating an issue that was “raised, necessarily decided and material in the first action,” provided the party had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue. 1 Collateral estoppel is an equitable defense “grounded in the facts and realities of a particular litigation, rather than rigid rules.” 2 The proponent of collateral estoppel has the burden of demonstrating “the identicality and

By: Jeffrey M. Haber A common theme in commercial litigation is the assertion of a breach of contract claim and a fraudulent inducement claim. Where both claims are asserted, more times than not, the fraud claim is dismissed under the duplication of claims doctrine – a principle of law that stands for the proposition that a fraud claim cannot stand side-by-side with a breach of contract claim when there is “a valid and enforceable written contract govern a particular subje

By Jonathan H. Freiberger This Blog has frequently written about RPALP 1304 . By way of background, and as previously noted in this Blog, RPAPL 1304 requires that at least ninety days before commencing legal action against a borrower with respect to a “home loan” (as defined in the relevant statutes), a “lender, assignee or mortgage loan servicer” must: send written notice to the borrower by certified and regular mail that the loan is in default; provide a list of approved h

By: Jeffrey M. Haber The internal affairs doctrine is a “conflict of laws principle which recognizes that only one State should have the authority to regulate a corporation’s internal affairs—matters peculiar to the relationships among or between the corporation and its current officers, directors, and shareholders—because otherwise a corporation could be faced with conflicting demands.” 1 Stated differently, “ nder the internal affairs doctrine, claims concerning the relat