By:  Jeffrey M. Haber As we have noted in prior articles, New York has a “long and strong public policy favoring arbitration”. Indeed, New York “favors and encourages arbitration as a means of conserving the time and resources of the courts and the contracting parties.” “Therefore, New York courts interfere as little as possible with the freedom of consenting parties to submit disputes to arbitration.”   “Nonetheless, ‘ ike contract rights generally, a right to arbitration

By:   Jeffrey M. Haber On September 25, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced ( here ) that it charged the co-founders of Retail Ecommerce Ventures LLC (“REV”), and REV’s Chief Operating Officer (collectively, “Defendants”), with conducting a series of fraudulent securities offerings, misusing investor funds, and making Ponzi-like payments to investors. According to the SEC’s  complaint , REV’s primary business was purchasing distressed retail compani

By:  Jeffrey M. Haber As readers of this Blog know, we have written about many types of fraud over the years, such as affinity fraud, common law fraud, fraud in the inducement, fraudulent concealment, and securities fraud. Another type of fraud concerns fraud in the execution or fraud in the factum. Three years ago, we examined Paredes v. Vorhand , a case involving this legal principle ( here ). Since that time, we have not examined any cases involving fraud in the executio

By:  Jeffrey M. Haber In Macklowe Inv. Props. LLC v. MIP 57th Dev. Acquisition LLC , 2025 N.Y. Slip Op. 05192 (1st Dept. Sept. 30, 2025) ( here ), the plaintiff, a real estate brokerage, sued pursuant to a letter agreement for a leasing commission after securing a tenant for defendants’ property. The letter agreement required satisfaction of a condition precedent before payment of the commission: execution of a leasing commission agreement. Plaintiff never fulfilled this cond

By:  Jeffrey M. Haber In CJS Indus. Inc. v. Dolce , 2025 N.Y. Slip Op. 05037 (1st Dept. Sept. 23, 2025 ( here ), plaintiff sued RS Custom Woodworking and its representatives for fraud after winning an arbitration award. Plaintiff alleged that defendants conspired to avoid payment by incorporating a new entity with a similar name between the initial and final arbitration awards. Plaintiff claimed the incorporation was part of a deliberate scheme to mislead and evade enforcemen

By:  Jeffrey M. Haber Under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) and Article 75 of New York’s Civil Practice Law and Rules (“CPLR”), an action should be dismissed or stayed, and the claims referred to arbitration when they are subject to a broad, mandatory arbitration provision in the parties’ governing agreement. The FAA provides that written agreements to arbitrate are “valid, irrevocable, and enforceable” and “places arbitration agreements ‘upon the same footing as other co

By:  Jeffrey M. Haber In Jefferies LLC v. Blaize Holdings, Inc. , 2025 N.Y. Slip Op. 33272(U) (Sup. Ct., N.Y. County Sept. 3, 2025 ( here ), the New York Supreme Court held that an engagement letter concerning the provision of investment banking services did not qualify as an “instrument for the payment of money only” under CPLR 3213, which allows for expedited summary judgment. The motion court found that the engagement letter imposed mutual obligations and required performa

By: Jonathan H. Freiberger Today’s article is about Nuruzzaman v. Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust Co. , an action that involves numerous areas of the law about which we frequently write -- mortgage foreclosure, FAPA, RPAPL 1501(4), CPLR 205(a), CPLR 205-A and statutes of limitation . Statute of Limitations in Foreclosure Actions By way of brief background, and as previously written in this BLOG, an action to foreclose a mortgage is governed by a six-year statute of limitations. CPL

By:  Jeffrey M. Haber In Celauro v. Celauro , 2025 N.Y. Slip Op. 04870 (Sept. 10, 2025) ( here ), a minority shareholder of a family-owned business alleged that company executives operated an illicit cash business, diverted profits and deprived shareholders of distributions/dividends. Plaintiff relied on dated deposition testimony, documents, and financial statements to support claims of ongoing misconduct. However, the motion court dismissed most of the breach of fiduciary d