When the Court orders you to attend a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) class on civility “for the harm [you’ve] done to the [legal] profession”– not to mention issues you five-figures in sanctions – you know you’ve done something very, very wrong. And that’s exactly what happened last month when Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Andrea Masley
Have Commercial Dispute, Will Travel (to New York)
A few years back, in a post entitled What the Commercial Division Has Done for Us Lately, we commented on a 2019 report from the Commercial Division Advisory Council, which extolled “The Benefits of the Commercial Division to the State of New York” since its inception in 1995, including how it “has made the
Counsel May Not Evade Word Limitations by Incorporating Affidavits in Place of a Statement of Facts
Justice Cohen reminds counsel that the Commercial Division word limits exist to keep arguments concise, not test whether lawyers can “respectfully refer the Court to” or “incorporate herein” other filings into their memoranda.
Continue Reading Counsel May Not Evade Word Limitations by Incorporating Affidavits in Place of a Statement of Facts
A RICO Claim in an Ordinary Business Dispute? Not So Fast, Says the Commercial Division
Courts continue to refer to federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) claims as “potent weapons” that are equivalent to a “thermonuclear device” in cases involving criminal racketeering activity. So why are we seeing RICO claims in ordinary business litigation disputes, including in the Commercial Division, that bear little to no resemblance to criminal
Narrow Escape of Expedited Judgment Under CPLR 3213 Due to Ambiguous Guaranty
As readers of this blog are aware—click here, here, here, and here for related posts—the CPLR 3213 motion for summary judgment in lieu of complaint can be a powerful tool to secure an expedited judgment, “meld[ing] pleading and motion practice into one step, allowing a summary judgment motion to be made before
A New(ish) Face in the Bronx County Commercial Division
The Commercial Division in Bronx County hasn’t been around all that long, opening its doors for adjudication in September 2019 with its very first case, Manhattan Beer Distributers LLC v Biagio Cru and Estate Wines, LLC. Justice Eddie McShan was the first to preside over the ComDiv in Bronx County and remained in that
Updates to Commercial Division Rules Concerning Discovery of ESI
On March 7, 2022, Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence K. Marks signed administrative order amending the commercial division rules to modernize and streamline the rules concerning ESI.
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An Interesting Tale of New York’s One-Action Rule
As mortgage loan transactions continue to become increasingly complex, lenders often worry about the remedies they have if borrowers fail to live up to their obligations. In the event of a default, lenders have the choice under New York’s election of remedies statute (RPAPL § 1301 (1)) to either (i) enforce the note
Oral Modifications to Written Agreements? Better Get Them in Writing Says the Commercial Division
In Castle Restoration & Constr., Inc. v Castle Restoration, LLC, Suffolk County Commercial Division Justice Elizabeth H. Emerson refused to enforce an oral agreement that allegedly modified a prior written agreement between the parties. In this blog post, we see how the Court applied a variety of contractual principals to determine the validity of
Buyer’s Remorse Does Not Constitute Duress, Holds First Department
A recent decision from the First Department reminds us that New York courts are not sympathetic to duress claims when the alleged acts or threatened acts fall within the ambit of the defendant’s rights under a valid agreement.
In Zhang Chang v Phillips Auctioneers LLC, the First Department affirmed Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Jennifer