Firm News

Appellate Division Second Department Affirms Summary Judgment to SG Client

In Kaur v. Lema, et al., the plaintiffs brought suit to recover damages for breach of contract and fraud arising from a series of contracts to purchase a business and the real property on which the business was located, as well as membership units which held title to real property for a private home. A down payment was made by plaintiffs to defendants upon execution of the contracts. The contracts permitted the plaintiffs to take possession of the properties prior to closing. However, after taking possession, plaintiffs advised defendants of their intention to cancel the contracts and demanded return of the down payments, which was refused by defendants. Plaintiffs then commenced action to recover damages for breach of contract and fraud. In lieu of an Answer, SG moved pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) to dismiss the Complaint and plaintiffs cross-moved for leave to amend the complaint. The Supreme Court granted defendants’ motion and denied the plaintiff’s cross-motion. The plaintiff then appealed.

The Appellate Division Second Department affirmed the Decision and Order of the Supreme Court Dutchess County. The Appellate Division found that Plaintiffs did not identify which contractual provisions the defendants allegedly breached. Further, the Appellate Division noted that the subject contracts submitted by defendants in support of their motion plainly state that plaintiff was taking the purchases “AS IS”, was not relying on the seller’s representations, and most notably, that plaintiff undertook his own investigation as to the quality of such purchases. As the language of the contracts destroyed the plaintiff’s generalized allegations that the contracts were executed in reliance on defendant’s oral representations, the Appellate Division found that the Complaint was properly dismissed, and that the Supreme Court did not improvidently exercise its discretion in denying plaintiff’s cross-motion for leave to amend their complaint.

-Caitriona A. Robbins

Thu Jan 19 2023, 12:00am